


A twist in fate, The Isle of the Lost

by Fanfictional123



Series: A twist in fate [2]
Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Ben raised on the Isle, F/M, Mal raised in Auradon, Role Reversal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-24
Updated: 2020-07-09
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:40:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 28
Words: 48,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24892540
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fanfictional123/pseuds/Fanfictional123
Summary: After the Events of 'A twist in fate' Auradon has accepted the new Queen, the VK's have settled in and Mal's happy with Ben. But with Mal's strange dreams a new threat is looming and a threat to Auradon will take her somewhere she's never been before on a quest that she doesn't truly understand. And a mystery Mal had long since stopped questioning may be revealed.
Relationships: Ben/Mal (Disney: Descendants), Doug/Evie (Disney: Descendants)
Series: A twist in fate [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1801219
Comments: 7
Kudos: 43





	1. Strange dreams

Six months.

It had been six months since Mal's Coronation, since Maleficent had attacked and been defeated-and Ben had her in a little vivarium in the boys room at Auradon, and during the holidays when he'd stayed at Castle Beast with her and the rest of the Isle kids he'd kept her in his room there.

Mal had to admit she was surprised by how well things had been going. The Isle kids were well and truly settling into Auradon life.

Of course the press had been informed of Ben's parentage, and so she and Ben were considered the power couple of Auradon, sure some people were still weary of the VK's, but most people liked them. And Mal was working non stop to prove herself as their Queen, which had been noticed by her people and made her even more popular.

There was even a lot of support for her Project Hope, which was what she'd come to dub her plan to get more kids off the Isle, though there would always be some detractors of course, Chi-Fu was the loudest of those.

She smiled as she thought of that-she would never forget Ben's reaction during his first Council meeting.

As her partner and an Isle kid she had decided it would be a good idea to bring him with her to discuss the possibility and the logistics of bringing more children from the Isle-and Mal had been getting as much information as she could about the children on the Isle from Ben, Evie, Jay and Carlos.

It had started well enough, after all Ben was viewed as a hero, and so were the other VK's, thanks to their actions during her Coronation, but Chi-Fu could never stay quiet for long and she'd groaned inwardly as the pompous man had went on a rant about how just because a few of the Isle children weren't completely evil that didn't mean that the rest of them weren't, and when he said Mal was simply too soft hearted for her position Ben had openly scoffed before proceeding to rip into the man with all the fierceness of any Isle kid.

By the time he was done Chi-Fu had almost been cowering in his seat and the meeting had to be cut short, and when she had towed a still glaring Ben out of the room he had burst, demanding to know how she put up with so much crap day in and day out.

Suffice to say Mal had laughed, kissed him and told him that it was because she was trained for it and that he'd adjust, after all Adam was helping Ben adjust to life in Auradon, especially life as the partner of the Queen, but he was doing well, and any frustration he felt he could easily channel into Tourney practice when school started again.

All of the Isle kids were doing well truthfully, Jay was thriving in Auradon now-he'd even been made Captain of the Swords and Shields team, and Carlos practically doted on Dude, and Mal was fairly certain that once one of them got the nerve to do it Jane and Carlos would end up being almost adorable as Doug and Evie-who were completely adorable.

Evie no longer obsessed over finding a Prince, she had a cute boy and a future fashion empire-the orders had started coming in after the Coronation and they hadn't stopped. She was designing pretty much all of the dresses for the Cotillion that was coming up-and Mal was eternally grateful for Jane with that, though she didn't blame Audrey for not being around-the girl had gone on a spa vacation recently, after Leah had been sentenced to the Isle as punishments for her treason against the crown of Aurado. The trial had been long, drawn out and extremely tiring for everyone involved. She was due to be transferred there in two days time actually.

Jane had taken over the bulk of planning-and honestly when she graduated Mal was definitely going to offer the other girl a job because she was good at it.

Of course there was the minor problem of the dreams she'd been having, a voice urging her to go to the Isle, for Auradon's sake, warning her of a bigger threat and a secret that had to be found.

She had asked Ben if he'd been having dreams like that though she'd left out the part about the voice urging her to go to the Isle-she knew that would worry him more than anything else, given the fact that she knew they'd both dreamed about each other before they'd even met, but he wasn't and Mal wasn't sure what to think about.

It was infuriating, but she let him reassure her there there wasn't any real threats. Maleficent was dealt with and her scepter was locked away in the museum along with her Spell book and Evie's mirror.

She was drawn out of her contemplation by Evie adjusting her dress-her gown for the Cotillion which was coming up.

"You seem distracted." Evie raised an eyebrow, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah, yeah of course." Mal gave a small smile, "Just thinking."

"What about?"

"I.." Mal hesitated before biting her lip, "Has Ben mentioned my dreams to you."

"Yeah, yeah he said you were worrying about it a lot." Evie carefully loosened the back of Mal's dress. "He thinks you're just stressed out because of what happened at the Coronation and Leah's impending transfer to the Isle."

"Maybe." Mal gave a half hearted shrug, "I don't know it just feels like more than that." she admitted.

"You need to try and relax." Evie laid her hands on Mal's shoulders, "Mal everything is going perfectly you're an amazing Queen, Auradon loves you. I know everything that happened with Leah and Maleficent has made you paranoid but I don't think anything's going to happen Ben is right."

Mal reached up, smiling faintly as she laid her hand on top of the blue haired girls and squeezed slightly. "Thank you Evie. I know I'm probably just being paranoid you're right. The dreams will go away eventually."

"Of course they will." Evie squeezed Mal's shoulders. "Now focus on the future, are you looking forward to the Cotillion, it'll be Ben's first major public appearance since the Coronation."

"He'll be fine." Mal smiled softly, "He's getting used to it. I know my dad's giving him a lot of help."

It was a strange relationship between her parents and Ben. They loved him, they really did but they didn't truly know him that well. They'd never be that close really. The three of them were so very aware of the strangeness of the situation. Ben was their son by blood, but he still very firmly saw Maleficent as his mother even if she'd been a terrible mother, and Mal was still very much Belle and Adam's beloved little girl.

Truthfully Mal didn't think Ben would ever be their son in the way he should have been, but they were supporting him and helping him and she was eternally grateful that he had them to guide them, since she was constantly busy she couldn't always be there as much as she wished she could. "He was a hit with Aladdin and Jasmine-well mostly Aladdin, when we visited Agrabah. And when we visited Rapunzel and Eugene he and Eugene decided to see how many pockets they could pick..." she was insanely grateful for that fact she really was, it was good to see her boyfriend slipping into his role.

"Of course." Evie laughed, "I remember when Aziz invited Jay over that weekend, Jay came back bragging about Aladdin giving him tips on how to pick pockets."

"They're all ridiculous." Mal stated firmly, "Now can you let me out of this dress I swear I can hardly breath."

"Of course." Evie grinned as she carefully helped Mal out of the dress without damaging it, "So these dreams... have you been sleeping much?"

"Honestly not as much as I'd like." Mal shrugged, "But hey what can I do?"

"You can nap here in your old bed." Evie stated firmly, "The fitting was supposed to take two hours but I know your measurements, take the chance to get a nap Mal you look tired."

"Evie I couldn't this... it's not even my roo-"

"Mal you're always welcome to crash here. I know you have a fancy private room now that you're the Queen but this is still your room too. Besides it's kinda lonely without Audrey here."

"Lonnie and Jane hang out here a lot-"

"Both of them are busy, Jane's been helping you and Lonnie is training to try out for Swords and Shields. The rules say no girls but she's planning on trying to get them to change the rules."

"Right." Mal nodded as she changed back into her normal clothes, a plain pastel purple dress, smart and simple. "Are you sure?"

"Mal if you don't get in that bed right now I will personally tie you to it." Evie ordered sharply, and Mal let out a laugh, holding up her hands.

"Alright alright! Just wake me up before I have my next meeting okay? My schedules in the planner in my bag." as she spoke she moved to the bed and climbed in, pulling the sheets over herself and closing her eyes, falling asleep within seconds.

Mal opened her eyes, looking around slowly. She knew it was a dream, she'd gotten good at being able to tell when she was dreaming.  
She wasn't sure where she was but it was dark. "Hello?" she called out almost nervously, reaching up to curl her fingers around her necklace-a little nervous tick she'd developed recently whenever she was upset or worried. "Is anyone there."

And the voice that came back was a whisper, echoing around her. "Danger, danger comes. Danger comes to Auradon little Queen." and Mal span around, eyes wide.

"Danger? Danger what danger! Who are you?"

"Find it, go to the Isle little Queen," the voice hissed the words, "find it or all else is lost. The key is in your past. The abandoned child," as the voice said that another voice whispered in her ear, the words coming at the same time as the voices next words.

"I gotta go little Mali, can't stand her anymore but I'll come back-" she couldn't hear the rest of whatever the voice was trying to say because the first voice grew louder again.

"the blessed runaway. The scepter calls. It will find a new wielder you must find the truth, it must be you. Find him and find the key to saving Auradon" and suddenly Mal could feel a weight in her hand and she looked down at a glowing blue rough edged stone. When she looked up again the voice was suddenly louder "Find the key! Find the key to save Auradon! THE ISLE!"

Mal jerked awake, stifling a scream as she did, panting, and Evie was leaning over her, looking pale, a hand on Mal's arm and Mal's phone in her free hand. "Mal I was trying to wake you. I just answered your phone. It's your mom she's at the museum. Maleficent's scepter. It's been stolen."


	2. Mysterious happenings

Mal sat bolt upright at those words, her eyes going wide in shock, "What?" she reached out quickly, "Gimme."

"Of course." Evie handed Mal the phone quickly, the purple haired girl swinging her legs off the bed and standing up quickly.

"Mom?"

"Mal, oh thank god you're awake." Belle's voice was clearly distressed even throuh the phone, "Did Evie tell you-"

"She said someone's stolen Maleficent's scepter?"

"They have, your father and I were visiting the Museum when we discovered the missing scepter."

"Okay..." Mal took a deep breath, "Are you still there?"

"Yes."

"Tell the curator to close off the rooms and shut the museum for the day. If this gets out there's going to be mass panic." Mal's mind was racing as she started to pace the room. "We need to cover it up for a few hours at least. Then go home, can you call Jennifer to meet you there? I'll get Ben to come too, for an emergency meeting. He probably knows a fair bit about the scepter."

"Of course darling. We'll see you soon."

"You will." Mal nodded, hanging up before turning to Evie, "Where's Ben?"

"He should be at Tourney practice-"

"Can you go and get him? Tell him what's happened and to meet me at Castle Beast?"

"You won't wait."

"I need to get there as soon as possible I'll take my bike. I'll tell Richard to make sure there's a car ready when I'm on my way out." Of course." Evie nodded quickly.

"Thank you E." Mal grabbed Evie's arm, squeezing gently before grabbing her bag and rushing out of the room quickly, leaping down the stairs two at a time before rushing out to the courtyard and around to the side of the building where her bike was stored after waving down Richard as she'd said that she would.

She didn't even bother with a helmet, leaping onto it and starting the bike quickly, racing off the school grounds, her heart pounding in her chest as he mind raced.

She'd been right, she'd known something was coming even if no one else had believed her. And the scepter... the voice in her latest dream had spoken about the scepter.

It had told her to go to the Isle... that, well that was worrying. The Isle was chaos according to the reports, there were skirmishes over who would fill the power vacuum, most of the inhabitants of the Isle saw the VK's as traitors. She knew that her friends didn't want to ever have to go back there.

And what had it meant the abandoned child.. and who's voice had whispered in her ear, had called her little Mali? She'd never been called that. Apparently she'd thrown a fit when her dad had tried to call her it once when she was a little girl and he'd never tried again.

How was she supposed to handle this? She had no clue who stole the scepter or what they planned on doing with it.  
And those dreams were important she was sure of it, the dreams were telling her where to go, but was she brave enough to listen to them? What about her friends? They wouldn't want her to go to the Isle alone but she knew none of them wanted to go back. And if they did... what would the people of the Isle do if they recognized them?

There were so many questions and she didn't know where to even begin. Someone stealing the scepter probably didn't have great intentions, but what could their plan be? It was infuriating, she didn't have enough information yet.

By the time Mal arrived at Castle Beast she'd managed to calm herself down somewhat, though the questions were still niggling at the back of her mind.

She had to take one thing at a time.

So she dismounted her bike and headed inside quickly, brushing her fingers through her windswept curls, giving Lumiere a small smile when he came bustling towards her. "We saw your arrival Mallory. Your parents are in the study waiting for you. Will young master Benjamin and the Fairy Godmothers will be here soon?"

"Yes Ben should be on his way by now, if you could send him up when he arrives, and hopefully so should Jennifer."

"Of course." Lumiere gave a small bow, "Do you wish for any food and drink?"

"No, not yet." Mal gave Lumiere a weak smile. "Perhaps after the meeting."

"Of course your highness."

With that Mal turned and bound up the stairs to her fathers study, letting herself into the room, where her mother and father were sat waiting. Both of them stood when she entered the room, Belle moving forward quickly to grab her hand, "Mal,  
sweetheart thank goodness you're here."

"What happened mom?"

"We were visiting the museum and when we went into the room holding the Villains magical items we saw glass on the floor." Adam stated smoothly, "The display case was smashed and the scepter was missing."

"Was there anything else missing?"

"Nothing, the guard checked." Belle shook her head, "We asked him to check the security footage from last night but it's all been wiped clean."

"That answers my next question." Mal shook her head, "Do we have any suspects?"

"No." Belle shook her head, "We don't even know where to start-I checked with the guards holding Leah and she's still in her cell... unless someone else broke out of the Isle during your Coronation I don't know."

"So what's the worst case scenario here?" Mal asked, "We have someone with one of the most dangerous magical items in all of Auradon only we don't know who and we don't know what they want, for all we know there could have been an escapee we didn't know about though I'd find it odd that they waited six months before doing anything."

"That about sums it up." Belle shook her head, "The magic of the scepter is powerful. If it's someone with ill intentions-"

"As opposed to what?" Mal spoke up, shaking her head, "Someone stealing it to be a good citizen-"

"Point taken." Belle sighed, "Fairy Godmother's wand may be able to help.. you've beaten Maleficent before."

"Surely if you can defeat the true owner of the scepter then you can beat whoever stole it." Adam reached out, squeezing Mal's shoulder.

And Mal could feel the weight of her responsibilities weighing down on her. It was her duty to protect Auradon. And she'd do it no matter what.

It was perhaps another half an hour before Ben and Jennifer arrived, Ben rushing to Mal's side as soon as he stepped into the room, wrapping his arms around her and pressing his lips to her forehead. "Are you okay Mal?"

"I'm fine." Mal gave a slightly tight smile, "Just worried."

"Of course you are." Jennifer shook her head, "Do we know who stole it?"

"No." Belle shook her head, quickly explaining what had happened to Ben and Jennifer, who both looked worried.

"This is certainly not good. We were lucky that Maleficent didn't use her scepter much." the Fairy Godmother shook her head,

"Mal did very well, better than I would have expected truthfully but Maleficent didn't use her scepter for much more than turning into a dragon. When Mal faced her because she was in dragon form she couldn't use the magic of the scepter, though I admit defeating her was an impressive feat even if she wasn't using the scepter"

"What does that mean?" Adam's voice was filled with worry.

"It means that there are very few magics stronger than that of the scepter." I wouldn't even know where to start-"

"Mother always bragged that there was only one thing in all of Auradon stronger than her scepter but she'd never tell me what it was." Ben spoke up, "I don't think she was talking about the Wand though."

"No, she wouldn't have been." Jennifer shook her head, "My wand is weaker than the scepter."

"Then we have no clue what it is." Mal sighed, "That's just wonderful." Her voice was thick with sarcasm. "Do we know where?"

"No." Ben shook his head, "Mom was real tight lipped about it when I asked."

"Perhaps we'll find something of use in the old records." Belle suggested, "Or.. is there anyone on the Isle-"

"No." Ben shook his head, "She allied herself with Jafar, the Evil Queen and Cruella but she didn't trust any of them she wouldn't have told them what it was."

"So no hope there then." Adam shook his head, and Mal bit her lip, thinking about her strange dreams. She opened her mouth to mention them when her mothers phone rang, and Belle glanced at the screen, her eyes widening.

"It's the curator." Belle stated quickly, answering the call with a quick, "Hello, yes that's me." and Mal watched her mothers face go from concern to relief.

"You're sure? You have no idea how it got back there... yes yes of course thank you for telling us. Yes it is a relief, if you could increase security measures-yes yes thank you. Let me know if there's anymore news."

"What was that?" Mal asked when her mother ended the call.

"Apparently it's been returned-"

"What?" Adam's eyes widened, "You-why on earth would someone steal it and then return it-"

"Someone's really bad idea of a prank." Ben suggested, "It is weird, is he sure it's the real thing?"

"Yes." Belle nodded, "He says he's certain."

"Well that's a relief." Jennifer smiled, "I was rather worried for a bit there."

"I don't think we should relax yet... did he see who returned it?" Mal couldn't shake off the feeling that there was still something very very wrong.

"No." Belle shook her head, "It's all very strange."

"I think I should visit the museum." Mal said after a moment, "Just to be certain. It could be that this was a test run for stealing it maybe?"

"That doesn't make any sense." Jennifer shook her head, "They had it, why put it back if they just planned on stealing it again?"

"I don't know. But something isn't right about this." Mal shook her head, "I don't like it one bit."

"Well we'll go to the museum and check it out." Ben stated firmly, "And you can put up some more protective spells or something right? Just to reassure yourself."

"Yeah." Mal gave Ben a faint smile "Yeah I think that'd be great." she kissed Ben's cheek before looking at the others in the room, "Does that sound like a plan."

"I think so." Adam nodded, "Best to be sure after all."

"And I can see if I can find anything on what might be more powerful than the scepter, it would be good to know even if it's back safe." Jennifer stated swiftly.

"Okay." Mal nodded, looking at Ben, "You ready to go."

"Whenever you are." Ben gave her a small smile, "I'm always up for a ride on your bike."


	3. The calm before the storm

The ride to the museum wasn't too long, and when they arrived Mal parked the bike before climbing off, letting Ben grab her hand and squeeze it reassuringly as they headed into the large building and towards the desk, bending down to whisper.

"Breath Mal. It's gonna be okay I promise you."

The curator was waiting for them by the desk-Mal assumed her mom had let him know they were coming and he bowed low.  
"Your Highness, Prince Ben. The Queen mother told me to expect you both."

"Of course." Mal smiled at the man, making sure she was stood as straight as she could. She was the Queen, she had to look like it. "Would you mind showing us to the scepter?"

"Of course." the curator nodded, leading them through the halls and up some stairs, "We don't know how whoever did it got in in the first place." he told them as they walked, "But it does seem to be the genuine article. I can't imagine why someone would go to such lengths but, well it's back in it's rightful place." he unlocked a door and opened it, leading them into the room where several possessions of villains were kept, and Mal could see the scepter set in place in the center of the room, glass still on the floor, "We'll have to set up a new case of course but that will be easy enough."

"Thank you sir." Mal moved quickly, pulling her hand free from Ben's as she strode towards the scepter, frowning slightly, "What security measures are there?"

"The glass case being smashed or lifted will set off the alarm once it's fixed and there's a pressure bad beneath the scepter so even if they got past that they shouldn't have been able to lift it without setting off alarms.. I don't know how it was done the guard heard nothing."

"Once I've checked it I'll cast a protective barrier around it." Mal stated firmly. "I do not want this scepter to leave this museum at all."

"Of course."

"It looks like her scepter." Ben said as he joined her right in front of it, "I can even see the marks from the time Diablo carried it to her." he pointed at the marks, little scratches, "It looks real to me Mal."

"It does look real." Mal bit her lip as she moved around it, reaching out slowly, the gem on the top pulsing a poisonous green.  
She could feel the dark magic contained within it, she shuddered slightly, "It seems to be the real thing." she said reluctantly, "I guess we've gotten lucky." still there was a feeling in the pit of her stomach. Something wasn't right. But... maybe it was her paranoia. She just couldn't believe how well things were going and she was expecting them to go wrong.

"Do you feel better now?" Ben asked softly.

"I guess." Mal shot him a faint smile, "I'll cast the protective barrier and then we can head back to school I guess."

"Sounds like a plan."

So Mal quickly murmured the incantation, a glowing gold light settling around the scepter before fading, "Whatever you do, don't touch the scepter, it'll send you flying backwards." she warned the curator, "Be careful when you're setting up the case."

"Of course your Highness, thank you." the man bowed again, "Will you wish to see any other exhibits or-"

"No thank you." Mal held up a hand, "We have to get back to school."

"Of course." the man nodded, "Thank you for ensuring the scepter's secure."

"No need to thank me."

And with that Mal and Ben headed back outside, Ben only speaking when they were in the open air again, "You're still worried, you have that look on your face Mal."

"I don't know." Mal shook her head, "I just feel worried about all of this."

"I know you've been having those dreams but it's probably just because you're so stressed." Mal knew he was trying to be reassuring. Ben loved her, he didn't want her to worry so much, but it didn't help, still she smiled softly and did her best to hide the worry she was feeling.

"You're right." she wondered if he'd still think that if she told him about her most recent dream... but no. No because then he'd worry too and she didn't want that for him, he was under enough pressure as it was even if he was coping well with it all.

Besides, there was something about latest dream, it felt more private... and she couldn't shake away the memory of that voice... it had been almost tender. But she didn't know who's voice it was.

Besides if the dreams were right then she'd need to go to the Isle, and she knew that Ben would insist on coming with her, and he was well known there, they'd likely recognize him easier than her if she hid her hair, and she didn't want to consider what would happen if the people on the Isle who were angry at him and their friends got to him.

Ben was tough, but even he wasn't that tough, not if they all came after him. But she shook away those thoughts. She wasn't going to rush into anything.

"Let's get back to school." Mal decided, climbing onto her bike, "C'mon Ben, I'll call mom and dad when we're back to let them know what's going on."

"Of course." Ben climbed onto the back of the bike, "I was planning on hanging out with Jay and Carlos later but if you need-"

"No, no I should be okay." Mal smiled slightly as she glanced back at her boyfriend before she looked forward again, starting the bike and taking off, letting herself take a moment to feel the wind in her hair and Ben's arms wrapped tight around her.  
It actually reminded her somewhat of their first date, though this time there was no love spell, which made everything a thousand times better.

She'd let herself worry once they reached the school.

Sadly this happened much sooner than she'd have liked it to, and she watched Ben rush off to meet their friends with a wry smile on her lips before she made short work of phoning her parents and reporting what they'd seen to Jennifer.

And of course since she was Queen that didn't mean she got to rest, not even after a stressful morning like the one she'd had, though thankfully there was only one Council meeting and a lunch meeting with Rapunzel and Eugene over some minor food shortages they'd been suffering from.

After that her schedule was clear for a few days, she'd made certain that it would be in case anything went wrong with Leah's transfer, and she even had Lumiere drive her to watch as the guards opened the barrier and drove the traitor across the bridge.

She had briefly considered asking Ben to come with her but she'd decided in the end that it was something she needed to do on her own.

She was willing to admit that she breathed a sigh of relief when the car drove back minus one old woman, and Lumiere had hugged her when he'd seen the look on her face.

And so days passed, with nothing more happening, and Mal knew she should be relaxing but she found she couldn't even with Ben's reassurances and the lack of anything happening. She could feel something in the air even if no one else could sense it. There was something coming.

But even her dreams seemed to have stopped and by the time the week ended she did feel a tiny bit better even if she could still feel that little pit of dread in her stomach, she was even looking forward to the Cotillion, which was only one week away-and hadn't that snuck up on her rather fast. She'd even have Audrey back soon, her friend planned on coming home two days before Cotillion so that she didn't miss it. She'd missed her best friend like she'd miss an arm.

She didn't even mind the fact that Ben had gone on a camping trip with the rest of the Tourney team, to mark the end of Tourney season and the beginning of Swords and Shields, which Mal knew Jay, Carlos and Ben would all be signing up for-and they'd undoubtedly kick ass, they always did.

Admittedly she was going to miss her boyfriend, who she wouldn't even be able to call or text given the lack of signal at the campsite she knew they were going to, but she could handle that for the chance for Ben to have some fun.

She knew it was good for him, Jay and Carlos to get to be parts of the team, to experience the fun stuff Auradon had to offer, which included team camping trips, or in Evie's case a chance to see her boyfriends family and spend some quality time with him over the weekend.

Mal obviously still had her parents, Lonnie and Jane that she could spend time with but... it would be slightly harder than normal without her friends, but hey it was only until Sunday evening so she'd cope as she always did.

So when she went to bed Friday night after seeing Ben and the others off, giving him a goodbye kiss and telling him she loved him, she didn't expect to have any dreams, but sure enough it seemed that as soon as her head hit the pillow she was in that darkness once more.


	4. The Isle

"Hello?" Mal looked around, her face pale, "For goodness sake what's going on. Why won't these dreams stop?"

"You haven't listened, time is running out."

"The scepter is safe I cast a protective barrier! It's safe." she shook her head, "Please what could possibly be coming?"

"It's not safe." the voice crooned at her, "It's not safe. It's been taken you know, you feel it in your bones Auradon is in danger Queen and you must protect it."

"I'd have been told-"

"A clever fake, wreathed in dark magic." that made Mal's gasp, and suddenly she knew it for the truth. The voice wasn't lying to her and she'd been fooled, someone had the scepter and was using it, making them lower their guard and she'd fallen for it like a complete fool.

"I don't know what to do-"

"Find it."

"Find what? Whatever it was Maleficent said was more powerful than the scepter? I don't know what that is please. Why can't you just tell me what it is?" and then she felt something in her hand again and she looked down at the glowing rock, "Is this it?" she held it up, "I don't know what this is. Some pretty blue stone? There's nothing special about this!"

"It has to be you. You must go to the Isle, find it there, to save your future you must see where you came from you are needed!"

"This isn't fair!" Mal screamed the words into the void around her, throwing the stone hard, until the glow faded from view, "I can't just run off to the Isle!"

"You have no choice, you've waited too long you must go now. Go to the Isle!" then Mal was falling and she was screaming as the air rushed past her as she fell and fell and fell-

And she jerked awake with a scream, which no one was around to hear, thankfully. Even if her friends had been around, she had her own room now, a huge one with a very large and organized desk, and a bed big enough for six people-and she knew that thanks to one memorable movie night that had started with her and Ben and ended up with the whole gang piled in her bed.

She scrambled out from under the covers quickly, rushing to her en suite bathroom to splash her face with some water before she looked at herself in her mirror, mind racing.

The dreams were warnings, she was sure of that, and she'd been ignoring them like an idiot, letting someone lull her into a false sense of security.

She needed to go to the Isle. It could be a trap of course-but... if it wasn't then Auradon depended on her finding the weird blue stone, whatever the hell that was. So she took a deep breath, dried her face and then rushed into her room, grabbing her phone from her bedside table and pulling up Ben's number before freezing. Right. Camping, even if she called him he wasn't going to answer, and Evie... no she wasn't dragging Evie to the Isle and she didn't have time to go and get the boys.  
There were Lonnie and Jane of course but... the Isle was a dangerous place, it was bad enough that she was going there let, she sure as hell wasn't dragging anyone else there with her.

It was her own fault anyways.

Right. So she was on her own... but her parents checked in a lot they'd want to know where she was and they'd worry if they disappeared, well there was a solution to that problem at least.

She scrolled through her phone quickly pulling up the contacts and clicking on a number she knew off by heart..

She didn't have to wait long, maybe two rings, and then a familiar voice came through the speaker. "Well well, if it isn't little miss doesn't call for like, a bajillion years and then decides to call in the middle of the night like crazy lady." and Mal found herself laughing at that, something easing in her heart.

"Two days, it's been two days Audrey-"

"A bajillion years." Audrey's laugher was clear, "So what does my favorite Queen want today? Y'know I was trying to sleep."

"To hear your wonderful voice." Mal sat down on the edge of her bed, "And for you to grant a favor."

"What do you need?" Audrey's voice turned slightly more serious, "Everything okay?"

"Uh... it's complicated." Mal admitted, "I need to do something but it won't go over well with my mom and dad.. so I was gonna give them a text and say I'm taking a few days break with you at the spa-"

"And you need me to cover for you if they check in?"

"I would owe you so much-"

"Pft." Audrey's snort was clear even through the phone, "What's a friend for if not to lie to parents, just tell me you're okay."

"I am." Mal sighed, "I will be. It's just-"

"It's okay, you don't have to go all avoidy or make up a lie. Whatever it is is clearly important Mal. You do what you gotta do okay?

"Yeah I will." Mal nodded, "Listen I'm gonna have to go because I gotta move quick but-"

"Go on then girl." Audrey urged, "I'll see you soon yeah?"

"Yeah, yeah of course. Love you Audrey."

"Love you too Queenie." Mal was smiling slightly when she clicked the end call button, and a quick text to her mom later and at least one of the numerous problems was dealt with, the lateness might worry her mother but she was sure her mom was half expecting it since Mal's stress levels had been through the roof lately.

Once that was done Mal quickly moved to her closet, rummaging through it and smiling to herself at what she found.

It had been made as a joke present after her Coronation by Evie, after all the blue haired girl had pointed out, she'd been born on the Isle so it was only right that she had at least one Isle style outfit.

The jeans, ripped as they were, were black, the tshirt to go with it was deep purple and the leather jacket Evie had made her was black with a purple lining-and the boots were dark purple too.

It didn't take her long to get changed, yanking the books on and looking in the mirror at herself.

The hair would be a problem, but thankfully she had a beanie that she could wear, so she brushed it out and twisted the hair into a bun that she could tuck under the beanie to hide the color.

The only items of jewelry she kept were her necklace, tucked beneath her shirt, and a golden bracelet that her mom and dad had given her in the aftermath of her coronation, a delicate thing, with a beautiful rose made out of amythests as the main part.  
With that done she stared at herself for several moments, grabbing the small remote that would open a hole in the barrier for her when she needed it to leave, before taking a deep breath and heading out of her room, magically locking the door behind her.

It was early, or late depending on which way you looked at it. The sky was still dark, and a glance at the clock as she made her way down the stairs and out to her bike told her that it was barely one in the morning. If she was lucky she'd be home before Ben, Jay, Carlos and Evie, and if not... well she'd end up getting yelled at for what she was doing but as far as she was concerned she didn't have that much choice in the matter.

Once she reached her bike she ran her fingers over the familiar metal of the engine, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath. "Noble steed proud and fair, you shall take me anywhere." she recited softly.

The bike glowed faintly and Mal quickly slung her leg over it and took off, speeding off the school grounds and away from the school, coming to a halt at the spot where the bridge would form when it was needed.

She took a deep breath, gripping the handles of the bike tighter before leaning forward and setting off again, gasping slightly as the bike hit the water. For a moment she worried that the spell wouldn't work-but the bike didn't go under water, it skidded over the top and Mal let out a bright laugh, the exhilaration of the ride making her cheer loudly.

It didn't take long to reach the Isle, bursting through the barrier and she braked hard as soon as she reached dry land, skidding to a halt, thankfully there wasn't anyone around on the very edge of the Isle, and she tucked her bike out of sight as best as she could, finding a dirty sheet and covering the bike with it before taking a deep breath and slipping through an alleyway, emerging from the alley into a bustling street, that was so unlike Auradon that her heart twisted in guilt and sympathy as she looked around.

The smell wasn't too bad where she'd first arrived but now? Now there was a definite fowl stench, likely from the rubbish that littered the streets and the fact that half the food seemed to be rotted-and that made her angry since she knew she'd increased the supply shipments to the Isle after her coronation so it was likely one of the more powerful villains was hoarding the good stuff.

She took a deep breath as she looked around, taking everything in, her mouth set in a line of grim determination.

This wasn't going to be easy, but she had to blend in. So she remembered everything the gang had told her, bits and pieces and she thought about how they acted at times, and she straightened her back, giving a cocky little grin as she started to walk. Her clothes would help at least. She just needed the attitude to go with them.

Right now she couldn't be Queen Mallory Beatrice, she couldn't be the kind hearted Queen. She needed to pull on other traits she had, she knew she could be tough, she needed to be tougher, more mischievous, to care less about the world around her.  
With that in mind she took off. She knew where she wanted to go first, though it might take some finding. After all she needed someone to change her hair so she'd not be so easily recognizable, and Evie had told her all about her main recommendation for Project Hope.

Dizzy Tremaine.


	5. Curl up and Dye

It took Mal roughly an hour to find the salon, and when she did she raised an eyebrow. It did not look inviting-Curl up and Dye, not a great name but probably typical for the Isle. There was a closed sign on the door-and a note about Lady Tremaine being too busy for customers. Thankfully it wasn't her Mal wanted to see.

After a moment of hesitation she pushed open the doors and walked inside, blinking rapidly-the large room had more color in it than the rest of the Isle did over all, there were beakers of bubbling bright colored liquids and honestly the room looked like total chaos.

And there was a girl sweeping with her back to Mal, with red hair currently up in two buns and a grin on her face as she watched a tv while working-the tv was showing obviously recorded footage from the Coronation, and Mal raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't have thought many people around here would enjoy watching that."

And the girl span around, eyes looking huge behind her purple framed glassed, "I-I'm sorry I'll turn it off!"

"No, no need for that." Mal held up a hand, "Why are you watching it though?"

"It's..." the girl hesitated, blushing before blurting out, "Evie's like a big sister to me, or she was. And she was so brave. I don't care if loads of people call them traitors I think they were awesome." and that made Mal smile softly, and she glanced at the footage again, it had just reached the part where Leah grabbed the wand and she winced at the memories.

"Any chance you can pause it?"

"Sure." the girl nodded quickly and paused it, "Uh, I am sorry but we're shut-"

"I know but I'm not actually here to see your grandmother." Mal gave the girl a small smile, I was hoping to find you-you are Dizzy right?"

"Yes, why? What would you want with me?" Dizzy looked confused.

"Well, I was told by a friend that you're an expert with hair and I need a bit of help with mine, as much as I hate to do it I need you to make me look.. not like me."

"I'm not really allowed-"

"I'll pay you." Mal pulled her purse out of her pocket, pulling out some money that made Dizzy's eyes widen.

"I.. you really want me to do it?"

"I was told you're talented." Mal smiled warmly-an expression she was sure was generally out of place on the Isle, but she knew from Evie that Dizzy was a sweet girl who very clearly didn't belong here.

"Okay... you'll have to show me your hair then." Dizzy decided, tilting her head, a faintly determined gleam in her eyes.

"Of course." Mal grinned slightly as she tugged the beanie off her head, letting her purple curls cascade over her shoulders. And she watched Dizzy's look of confusion shift into one of shock as she glanced at the screen and then back at Mal.

"You-that-you're-"

"Yeah." Mal smiled, "The friend just so happens to be Evie, she's told me a lot about you by the way."

"Oh my god!" Dizzy was bouncing excitedly, "This is so cool, it's really you! You were so brave at your Coronation and you looked so pretty! I can't believe you're here! Is Evie here too?"

"No." Mal shook her head, "Sorry I came alone. She was busy and I didn't want to disturb her to drag her back here. So do you think you can work your magic?"

"I.." Dizzy visibly pushed down her disappointment before grinning, "What do you want me to do?"

"Dye it, I'd say a darker color." Mal decided, letting Evie grab her arm and drag her to one of the chairs, which she sat in quickly. "Straighten it too. Make it frame my face differently than usual. I need to look like someone else, if anyone here recognizes me it's game over."

"I can do that." Evie nodded, "Do you still want purple."

"If you can make it so that I look different you have free reign." Mal stated firmly, and she smiled when Dizzy's face lit up as she got to work, chattering eagerly to Mal.

The girl seemed to be slightly in awe of the Queen, not that Mal blamed her, as much as she didn't think she was better than anyone else, especially not a sweetheart like Dizzy, she was well aware of the differences in status, and she knew how daunting that could be. Besides it was kind of adorable how flustered the girl was getting as she set about dying Mal's hair, asking question after question about Auradon, which Mal answered as quickly as she could with as much patience as she had.  
Which was a lot, of course, she was raised in Auradon by the poster parents for goodness and kindness, she could be patient, especially with someone like Dizzy.. she just refused to be patient with certain assholes who should know better like Chad and the White's. The thought of them still made her blood boil, though they were still paying for their actions at Family day, which Chad and Steven not being allowed on any sports teams, and Samantha having had her phone taken and she was banned from doing anything fun outside of classes.

Still Mal hadn't forgiven them yet-she could hold a hell of a grudge, she probably got that from Maleficent.

Either way Dizzy somehow managed to keep chattering until Mal's hair was done, which was impressive considering how long it took, at which point she stopped and stood back after she'd finished drying it. "Done. Do you wanna look in the mirror?"

"Sure." Mal smiled as Dizzy darted off and grabbed one, rushing back and holding it up so that Mal could see herself, and Mal's eyes widened in shock at the sight.

Evie had done a good job, Mal's hair was black now, and straight, though she couldn't help but notice there was still purple on the tips. It looked good, and Mal looked different. Sure someone who knew her well would recognise her if they looked at her, but no one on the Isle should be able to tell-well, maybe Leah but she was probably already holed up somewhere hiding.

"Excellent work Dizzy." Mal grinned at the girl, "I might have to bring you to Auradon with me at some point-"

"Really?" Dizzy almost squealed, "That would be so cool is it really like it looks on TV?"

"It's amazing you'd love it you just might have to wait a bit." Mal promised, squeezing Dizzy's hand, "Now I do believe it's time for payment yes?"

"You don't have t-"

Mal held up a hand, cutting Dizzy off before she could finish as she pulled out her purse and pulled several notes out of it, handing them over, "One hundred dollars sound about right?"

"One h-I can't take that much! My grandmother only charges thirty!"

"Well maybe your grandmother isn't as skilled as you. In Auradon I'd probably have to pay more for hair like this." Mal stated firmly, "I personally think you deserve every single dollar, but hide it okay? So she can't take it from you."

"I.. okay." Dizzy was beaming as she took the money and tucked it into the pocket of her apron. "I'll be able to get so much food!"

And damn but that stung because a girl Dizzy's age shouldn't be excited about being able to buy food. It broke Mal's heart it really did. "Yeah you will." Mal let Dizzy remove the hairdressing cape before standing up, "If I get the chance I'll buy you some food if you want, before I have to leave."

"I'd like that." Dizzy paused, "Why are you here though? The Isle not exactly the safest place for you."

"Yeah I know that." Mal sighed "Thankfully I've managed not to stick out too much so far." she hesitated, "I'm looking for something.. not that I have a clue where to start." she tucked a lock of straight black hair behind her ear, shaking her head, "I think Auradon is in danger and I need this thing to stop it but I don't know what it is even. I know it's on the Isle somewhere and I know what it looks like... which is pretty much just a blue rock that glows... and it might not even do that on the Isle."

"That's not much to go on." Dizzy frowned, "You could search for weeks and not find it if you don't know where to start."

"Yeah, that's the problem. I was hoping I could sort of try and sneakily ask around... if you have any better ideas I'd be open to hearing them though."

"I dunno." Dizzy frowned before perking up, "Or maybe... CeeCee might be able to help. She's my friend. Her dad is Dr Facilier. She can read futures in cards even here."

"Maybe." Mal bit her lip, "I guess it's worth a try." she decided after a minute's thought, "If it doesn't work out it doesn't work out I suppose. You gonna be able to take me to her?"

"Of course." Dizzy grinned before pausing, "I dunno if you should tell her who you are though... she's my friend but she's not a part of the Anti-Heroes club?"

"Anti-Heroes club?"

"A bunch of us kids who want to be like Ben, Evie, Carlos and Jay, we made a club together... we could tell them-"

"No." Mal shook her head, "Not a good idea Dizzy, right now I want as few people as possible knowing who I am okay? It's dangerous enough me even being here, if people find out who I am... it'll end badly."

"Right." Dizzy nodded, "What do you want me to call you then?"

"How about.." Mal thought for a moment, frowning to herself before shrugging, "Lorri. I don't like the name but it'll do for now at least."

"Okay then Lorri." Dizzy grinned, "Let's go and find CeeCee."

"Lead the way." Mal grinned at the girl, and together they moved towards the door, but as they did the door swung open before they reached it and a tall teenager-around Mal's age she was pretty sure swaggered-and there was no other word for it, into the shop.

He had a red leather sleeveless jacket, a pirate hat, eyeliner and a dangerous grin.


	6. Harry Hookless

The newcomer smirked as Dizzy stepped back quickly, and Mal glanced between them her eyes narrowing when the teen spoke, "Alright fork it over ya runt." he drawled the words, and Dizzy froze, her eyes going wide.

"F-Fork what over?"

"Whatever money you've got in that till." he tapped on the metal till meaningfully-and Mal's eyes narrowed when she noticed the hook on his hand. And hadn't her friends mentioned some guy called Harry Hook who Ben didn't get along with? Then she blinked, focusing on the hook properly for the first time-and she burst out laughing, unable to help herself, which made Dizzy give her a look like she was crazy and made the other teen's eyes focus on her.

"What do we have here now? And what's so funny." his eyes looked her up and down slowly, taking her in as he smirked slightly, "Aren't you a pretty one."

"Sorry." Mal snickered, "I like guys who don't feel the need to carry a hook around to look cool." and really it was ridiculous. A hook for a hand when you'd lost a hand, yeah she could get on board with that, but to just carry around a hook, now that was some next level dumbassery.

That made Dizzy giggle and the teen moved forward quickly his eyes narrowed, "Who do you think you are?" he demanded, "I haven't seen you around before." he circled her and Mal crossed her arms over her chest, raising an eyebrow.

It was probably supposed to be intimidating, and she could see why it would be, but Mal had literally faced down Maleficent and won, she wasn't going to let some wannabe pirate scare her into backing down. She was the Queen of Auradon, not a coward.

"Someone who's not interested." she gave her sweetest smile, fluttering her eyelashes at him mockingly, "So kindly go annoy someone else, or did you not see the sign the salon's closed there won't be any money in the till-oh wait, you can read right?" she asked with fake concern, "Oh tell me you can read, you're not illiterate are you?"

"Hm... you're right the salon's closed I can read." he moved fast, Mal would give him that, his hook was in her hair, "But it looks like the runt's had a customer." he smirked, "Now what's your name gorgeous."

"Lorri." Mal shrugged, " And that's good for you, the whole being able to read thing, nice to know you're not illiterate, just a moron. And let me guess, the hat, the hook, Harry Hook?"

"You've heard of me." Harry gave a delighted smirk, clearly ignoring the insult in her words, "Wish I could say I'd heard of you." the point of the Hook brushed against her cheek gently, "But I haven't seen you around and around here, you tend to know pretty much everyone. So where did a pretty little thing like you come from?"

"I don't get out out much." Mal remarked, "And still not interested, you can stop the sad attempts to flirt I am so out of your league."

That earned Mal an offended look. "Shame, you are a pretty one-"

"So you've said. Repeatedly. I can't imagine why you think I don't know." Mal rolled her eyes, "C'mon Dizzy we were about to go out anyway, this loser is boring me-"

"Nuh uh, not a chance." he grabbed her arm tightly, hook still resting against her cheek, pressing slightly harder now, more of a threat than it had been before "We were having a nice chat-and little Dizzy still has to give me my money or I'll have to trash this place, I don't want to but, well it's my responsibility."

"She has no money you brainless-"

"So you didn't pay her for dying this pretty hair?" he sniffed it, "Can smell the dye, always such a strong smell is dye, someone's telling lies." he said the last part in a sing song voice that made Mal narrow her eyes and really, really want to slap that smirk off his lips.

"Let go of me." Mal's voice was calm despite the anger she was feeling. She was good at that, she had to be or half of the council members would be going around in different shapes because she'd cast spells on them for annoying her. She knew how to hide how she was really feeling, every royal had to. "Or you'll regret it Hook."

"Oh I don't think I will. Chop chop Dizzy. The money. Before I get annoyed, you won't like it if I get annoyed, blood can be so hard to mop up."

"L-Lorri what do I do?" Dizzy's voice was frightened as she looked between the two of them, "I-Lorri please I don't... what do I do?"

"Don't worry Dizzy." Mal's voice was firm, "You're not giving this jumped up little pirate any money-"

"What your tongue, little Lorri, or I'll cut it out." Harry leaned closer, his breath warm on her ear, "Would you like to see that little runt? Want to see me cut your new friends tongue out?" and it was Dizzy's distraught little whimper that made Mal snap.  
She might have been raised a Princess, she might be a Queen but that did not mean she'd ever be a damsel in distress, Lil Shang had been a good teacher, not just with swords but with self defense in general, and Mal moved quickly, one hand flew up to grab the wrist if the hand Harry used to hold his hook, absently noticing a slight tugging sensation at her wrist, but she didn't waste her time wondering what it was, the hand other moving up and smashing his other had off her arm as she brought up her knee, right between his legs.

To be fair he might have stood a better chance if he'd even considered the possibility of her actually fighting back but he hadn't been so it was almost laughably easy.

She smirked at the shocked breathless cry of pain he let out, but she didn't stop, twisting his arm behind his back until he dropped the hook, which she kicked away from him quickly, "Dizzy. Pick up the hook please."

"Yes Lorri!" and Dizzy did as she was told quickly, picking it up, her eyes wide in shock and awe as Harry groaned in pain.

"Let me go you little bitch!"

"You're gonna say sorry to Dizzy." Mal ordered, "And you're not getting that hook back until you've learned some manners."

"Sorry! I'm sorry!" Harry's voice was loud and he groaned as she twisted harder.

"You're sorry for what?" Mal asked, imitating the annoying sing song voice he'd used earlier.

"For trying to steal from you and threatening you! Let me go!"

"And say sorry for being a pushy creep."

Mal tugged harder, and Harry cried out loudly, "I'm sorry for being a pushy creep!" he nearly screamed the words and Mal shoved him hard as she let go and he stumbled forward, straightening up.

Of course sometimes guys just didn't know when it as best to lay down and give up and he lunged for Mal, who pulled back her fist and thrusting it forward with all the strength she had, sending him reeling backwards, hands flying up to his probably broken nose as Mal twisted, leg flying out and sweeping his feet out from under him.

He hit the floor with a loud thud and a groan "Don't try and get up." Mal ordered sharply, "C'mon Dizzy let's get out of here. Toss me his hook."

"Okay Lorrie." Dizzy through the hook to Mal, who caught it with a smirk as she looked down at the thoroughly beaten looking Harry and tucked the hook into her jacket pocket, "See ya around hook boy. I think I'll keep your little hook as a souvenir." she waggled her fingers in a mocking wave as she gently grabbed Dizzy's arm and towed her out of the building.

Once they were out the two girls exchanged grins, and Dizzy shifted so that she was holding Mal's hand, and they took off in a run, both of them cackling with laughter as their feet pounded along the streets and the ducked and dodged past people on the street.

They didn't stop until Dizzy had dragged Mal into an alley where they could break down laughing, Dizzy clutching at Mal's arm as they both doubled over.

"You just-you-he's gonna be so angry." Dizzy couldn't seem to help herself, "You're amazing Lorri. No wonder Evie and the others like you."

"Why thank you." Mal managed to calm down enough to do a mock bow, "I live to please." She linked her arm with Dizzy's, "I have to say I haven't had that much fun in a while-" that was true, a Queen wasn't allowed to pull stunts like that. She had to admit it was a rather freeing feeling, being able to cause a bit of chaos.

"The look on his face when you laughed at his hook." Dizzy grinned, "Not many people are willing to stand up for him 'cause he's part of Uma's gang-"

"Ah, Uma, I've heart of her." Mal nodded to herself, "And Harry-"

"I bet." Dizzy shook her head, "He and Braeden did not get along at all-y'know if he was here he'd probably be even more in love with you than he is now."

"I can't wait to tell him." Mal admitted with a laugh, shaking her head, "Now Dizzy, my little guide, you said something about your friend right? Any chance you can take me to find her."

"Of course." Dizzy nodded, "But we'll have to be careful, Harry'll probably go back and tell Uma that some newbie beat him up."

"Then we'll try and blend in." Mal linked their arms, "Lead the way then Dizzy, let's see if this CeeCee can help me find what I gotta find."

"If she can't help then we'll think of something else." Dizzy promised as they started moving again. "It might not be easy but we will."

And with that they were off, and Mal just hoped that they'd find whatever it was she'd been sent here for.


	7. The cards

Dizzy led Mal through lots of alleys, and Mal was honestly impressed, the Isle was a maze of them, but Dizzy knew her way around really well all things considered.

It didn't take too long for them to reach an alley with a sign offering fortune telling hung up along with a booth set up.  
Dizzy frowned slightly, "Doesn't look like she's here yet." she said after a moment, "I guess it's kinda early. But she's usually up pretty early so we could wait if you want."

"Yeah." Mal nodded, moving to one of the walls and sitting down, Dizzy sitting next to her. "I want to find out what I need to know as quickly as I can." she lifted an arm, letting Dizzy curl into her side. "I've wasted too much time ignoring the threat as it is." she admitted, "I don't want to fail."

"You won't." Dizzy said softly, "You kicked Maleficent's butt right? If you can do that you can do anything."

"Sure." Mal smiled softly, "I hope you're right." she sighed heavily, closing her eyes, "I really do." and with that they fell into a comfortable silence, and slowly, without even realizing it, both girls drifted off.

When Mal did wake up it was to hear two hushed voices whispering, and she turned her head quickly to see a dark skinned girl with stunning long dark curls, the roots of which were brown though the bulk of it was a deep red. On her head was a little hat with a skull and feathers on it, she looked around the same age as Dizzy and if Mal was willing to make a bet she'd say this was the CeeCee the girl had been talking about.

Stood next to her peering at Mal and Dizzy was a boy also around the same age with short pale blue hair and skin that could rival Mal's with it's paleness. Him she didn't know. She shifted slightly, gently shaking Dizzy awake, and Dizzy sat up straight quickly, grinning at the two other kids, "Celia! Hadie! Hey guys-"

"Uh, what exactly are you doing?" Celia raised an eyebrow, "And who's she?"

"A new friend." Dizzy stated quickly, "I was bringing her here to see you but you weren't here yet. Celia, Hadie, meet Lorri."

"Nice to meet you Lorri." Hadie grinned slightly, "So what do you want with Celia?"

"Hadie is Hades son." Dizzy told Mal quickly, "And Celia's other best friend."

"I'm his dads errand rat." Celia shrugged, "Of course we're friends."

"Right." Mal nodded, "Okay then.. listen Celia Dizzy said you could help me... see I'm looking for something but I'm kind of lost on how to find it. I only know what it looks like."

"You want me to read the cards? You'll have to pay."

"I have money."

"Okay then." Celia nodded towards the table, "I'll do it 'cause Dizzy seems to like you."

Mal nodded, "That's all I'm asking for." Mal sat down carefully as Celia sat at the table too and pulled out a deck of cards, Dizzy and Hadie were both watching too, clearly curious as the younger girl shuffled the cards and laid them out, turning them over and examining them thoughtfully until she spoke.

"The cards say that there's some danger-"

"That's right." Mal nodded quickly, "The thing I need to find it to help me stop it."

"Right... well... according to the cards you have everything you need to find it." Celia informed Mal seriously, "And they say that family is important in your quest."

"Oh wonderful." Mal sighed, "And right now none of that actually tells me anything.. but thanks Celia."

"Well you know you have everything you need to find whatever it is." Celia shrugged "The cards never just give you a straight answer you need to figure it out yourself. You have everything you need already."

"Well it's something I guess." Mal gave a wry smile, "I appreciate the help anyways." She pulled out her purse, "How much do you want?"

"Ten bucks." Celia said after a moment of thought, "'Cause you're Dizzie's friend."

"In that case." Mal pulled out two notes and handed them to Celia, "Twenty for your trouble-" that made Celia's mouth drop open in shock and Hadie nearly choked on a lollipop he was sucking on, which resulted on Dizzy having to hit his back repeatedly to get him to cough it up.

"Oh wow." the blue haired boy managed, still coughing. "That... wow."

"You're serious?" Celia snatched the money as if she was worried Mal would take it back-which actually probably wasn't that far from the truth, sadly enough. "Thanks." she was smiling.

"You did me a huge favor by trying to help." Mal shrugged, "It's the least I could do." she ran her fingers through her hair, frowning, "Of course that doesn't actually help me figure out what I'm doing-" she paused, hearing a faint rumbling, and her gaze focused on Dizzy, "You hungry?"

"Uh, it doesn't matter."

"Yeah it does." Mal stated firmly, "We'll go get some food, do you two want some?"

"I've gotta go see if Hades wants anything." Celia shrugged, "But I could meet you guys after I guess."

"I could use some food." Hadie grinned, "Maybe from Ursul-"

"No!" Dizzy nearly yelled that, "No we can't go there."

"Why not?" Hadie frowned, "It one of the better places to get food."

"Because Harry Hook tried to steal from my grandmother's shop earlier." Dizzy shook her head, "And uh... it ended badly for him."

Mal smirked slightly, "What can I say, he really annoyed me."

"You pissed off Uma's right hand man?" Celia raised an eyebrow, "Are you dumb or suicidal."

"Neither." Mal shrugged, "I just know I can handle myself."

"Your funeral." Celia shrugged, eyeing Mal as if she was insane-which honestly the girl probably thought she was.

"So where are we gonna go?"

"Uh, maybe Frollo's?" Dizzy suggested after a moment.

"Frollo's is better than the Slop shop I guess." Hadie nodded. "We'll see you there Celia?"

"Sure." Celia nodded, giving a little waggle of her fingers before she pranced off, leaving Mal with Dizzy and Hadie.

"Okay kids. Let's go get some food, maybe I'll think better on a full stomach."

And so less than half an hour later they were at Frollo's Creperie sat around a table waiting for their food-they already had glasses of water, though Mal was honestly concerned at the state of the glasses, which didn't look like they'd been cleaned for a while, and she was smiling slightly as she watched the two kids talk, raising an eyebrow when Hadie started talking about his dad.

"What's it like." She tilted her head, "Having Hades as a dad."

"Eh, not so bad." Hadie shrugged, "He doesn't exactly leave his cave much... pretty sure the only time he's left it was when he got with my mom for a night. I spend more time with Pain and Panic."

"He doesn't leave his cave?"

"Not since before I was born." Hadie shrugged, "I dunno why, he refuses to acknowledge most of the outside world, doesn't even watch TV anymore. I only ever see him when I go with Celia to visit."

"That sounds kinda sad." Mal pointed out.

"It's the Isle." Hadie gave her a confused look, "That's life." at this point, thankfully since it broke the awkward silence, the food was brought out-and that was not very impressive, Mal didn't really want to eat hers since it smelled funny and there were flies, so she pushed it around the plate letting her mind wander as the two younger kids talked, not paying too much attention.  
Or at least she hadn't been until she heard Hadie saying "Yeah, Celia said her dad went down to see when they tossed that new lady who attacked at the Coronation in here but he said all they did was toss a dummy-like the clothes shop ones-"  
"Wait." Mal frowned, leaning forward, "Uh, Hadie can you repeat that please?"

"Uh... why?" Hadie looked worried suddenly, "What's wrong."

"You're saying that Queen Leah was never brought here?" and suddenly Mal felt as if a pit was opening up beneath her feet and she was falling.

Leah hadn't been brought to the Isle.. and how could Mal know better she'd watched from a distance, she'd seen someone-or something, get tossed out of the car. She hadn't even considered the possibility it was a dummy she'd just been so relieved that it was all over and Leah was finally gone.

But if she wasn't... the guards were probably on her payroll. And.. and the sceptre had been stolen.

Surely even Leah wasn't that crazy-but she remember that insane gleam in the woman's eyes when she'd grabbed the Wand during her Coronation.

Yes. Yes Leah was exactly that crazy wasn't she? And if Leah had the scepter... Auradon was in danger, terrible terrible danger. Because Leah had gone beyond just hating Mal now.

She hated Auradon for accepting the daughter of Maleficent as their Queen. And Leah liked to do things big.

She'd let things settle, let everyone get a false sense of security, and then... and then she'd attack and Mal was sure she knew when.

Cotillion.

Leah would attack at the Cotillion which meant that Mal had a week.

One week to find whatever the hell the stone from her dreams was, to track Leah down, and to stop her, otherwise one thing was certain, Cotillion would be a night to remember.


	8. Plans form

After the revelation-which had thrown Mal off, she knew she didn't have any time to waste, but she still had no clue where to start.

She could see the looks Hadie and Dizzy were shooting her and she gave a weak smile, "Sorry you two I... that's just really shocking."

"Yeah you'd think they'd make sure she was gone right? After what she did." Hadie shook his head.

"Are you okay?" Dizzy frowned worriedly, "You haven't touched your food."

"Not hungry." Mal shook her head, "You guys can give it to Celia when she comes back." she started to stand, which made Dizzy frown.

"Wait where are you going Lorri?"

"I need to start searching." Mal shook her head, "I can't waste time Dizzy-"

"I want to help." Dizzy stated quickly, "Please Lorri-"

"You don't even know what you're looking for." Hadie frowned, "How you gonna find it if you don't know what it is."

"I dunno." Mal groaned, "But I need to. It's important."

"Maybe we're supposed to help." Dizzy added eagerly, "Celia said that you had everything you needed right? So maybe we're part of that. You can trust Hadie." she glanced at the blue haired boy, "He's a member of that club I told you about-"

"Dizzy-"

"What's actually going on here?" Hadie's eyes narrowed, "Dizzy you told her about the club? Like, really about it?"

"I did." Dizzy nodded quickly, "Lorri please can we tell him?"

"I.." Mal stared at the pleading look on the girls face and she sighed heavily, "Fine, fine. Hadie I need you to swear you'll not tell anyone this."

"Okay." Hadie nodded, "I swear, and my dad's pretty big on deals so you know I'll keep to my promise."

"Good." Mal shot Dizzy a look, "As Dizzy was wanting to tell you... I am not exactly from around here."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Mal lowered her voice, leaning in slightly, "I was born on the Isle. But I grew up in Auradon." she raised her eyebrows meaningfully and Hadie's brows furrowed in confusion-and for some reason that look reminded her of something, but she was quickly distracted from that thought by the way they widened in realization a moment later.

"Holy crap you're her?" he asked in a hiss, "You're actually her."

"I am." Mal nodded, "Dizzy helped me sort out my hair so people wouldn't recognize me."

"Oh this is so cool." Hadie grinned, his blue eyes lighting up. "I remember watching the whole Coronation-you were so badass."

"Why thank you." Mal laughed softly, smiling despite herself. "As you can probably guess I'm not here for a fun day trip. Someone's stolen Maleficent's scepter." she told Hadie quietly, "I'm looking for something strong enough to counter it."

"Oh wow that is bad." Hadie bit his lip, "I want to help though. If that's okay."

"I... I'd like that." Mal sighed, "I just don't want either of you getting hurt okay? Any idea where we should start?"

"Uh.. I dunno." Hadie admitted, "I... my dad might but he's never exactly chatty. He might answer if I pester him but probably not. He does love me but he's just... not the most cooperative person."

"He probably knows more than I do." Mal remarked dryly, "I think all I know is that it's a blue stone."

"A blue stone?" Hadie's eyes widened in shock, "I might know what that is actually."

"You might?" Mal leaned forward "What is it Hadie?"

"My dads Ember." Hadie said quickly, "It's this blue rock, doesn't do much here but I know my dad keeps it close to him at all times."

"I need to see it." Mal stated quickly, "Is there any chance you can get me in to see it?"

"No." Hadie hesitated, "But I might be able to steal it for you." he shifted nervously, "I don't want Celia involved in this though... if we do this dad is gonna be angry and I don't want him blaming her."

"That's totally fine." Mal stated reassuringly, "I feel bad enough dragging you into this Hadie." she hummed, "Okay so how do we do this."

"Is there someplace you can hide out?" Hadie asked after a moment of thought. "I'll finish eating and meet Celia and then she'll probably go back to see her dad and I'll go and see if I can sneak in and steal my dads Ember for you."

"I know a place." Dizzy said quickly, "Evie used to let me go there sometimes, their old hangout."

"I know where that is." Hadie nodded, "So I'll meet you guys there later?"

"Sounds like a plan." Mal nodded, "Listen Hadie if you don't feel up for it I can figure out how to get to it. I don't want you doing anything you don't want to-"

"It's fine." Hadie shrugged, "I've stolen stuff from my dad before so many times. It's pretty much the only way to guarantee that he'll notice me. I can get in without him being on the defensive, there's no way you'd get to the stone but I can."

"That sucks." Mal's voice was soft, "I'm sorry Hadie."

"It's okay, not like you're the reason he's so absent, and he's better than a lot of parents on the Isle he does love me. In his own way."

"That doesn't make it right." Mal shook her head. "Okay. So Dizzy and I will go to this safe space and you'll come and find us when you're done right."

"Of course." Hadie nodded, "You guys go now and I'll see you later."

And with that they all said their goodbyes and Mal and Dizzy headed to the place that Mal's friends had probably seen as more of a home than their actual homes with their parents.

She raised an eyebrow when Dizzy lobbed a stone at a sign warning of flying rocks, and her eyebrows raised even higher when the sign swung to the side and a door she hadn't noticed before opened.

She followed Dizzy's confident lead, bounding up the steps after the younger girl and looking around with wide eyes, curious as she saw the murals on the walls and.. it looked like a messy teens apartment, not that much different than the boys room at Auradon prep, minus the grafiti of course.

"So, this is where Ben and the others used to hang out."

"Yeah, they came here to avoid their parents mostly." Dizzy shrugged, "Evie would bring me here sometimes. A few of the others in the Anti-Heroes club know how to get in here 'cause I told them but none of them ever do." Dizzy explained.

"Thank you." Mal gave Dizzy a small smile, "For helping me with all this. And I'll have to thank Hadie too when he comes back. "

Mal moved further into the room, flopping down into a huge blue beanbag "Honestly I didn't expect it to be this easy... is that bad? I mean... I thought I'd find it a lot harder to find out anything useful."

"You got lucky." Dizzy beamed as she flopped down next to Mal, "We'll make sure you can save Auradon.

"I know you guys will." Mal wrapped an arm around Dizzy, "And then someday soon I'll invite you, Hadie and Celia to come to Auradon."

"All of us?"

"Well yeah, I mean, technically you guys will be the only reason I saved Auradon after all." Mal grinned playfully, "Tell you want just so you know for sure I'll keep my promise I'll give you something that you have to give back to me when you arrive in Auradon. It's real important to me, my parents gave it to me as a late Coronation gift." Mal shifted, moving her arm from Dizzy's shoulder to get to her wrist only to freeze, her face paling, "Oh no."

"What is it?" Dizzy frowned, "What's wrong?"

"My bracelet. It must have come off when I was dealing with Harry." and now that she thought about it she could remember a tugging sensation when she'd grabbed his hook away from her face.

"Oh no." Dizzy looked upset, "This is my fault I should have just given him the money-"

"No." Mal shook her head, "Don't think that for a second Dizzy. It'll be in the Salon right? We'll swing by there and get it after Hadie comes back right?"

"Yeah." Dizzy nodded, "Okay that sounds good. It's probably not a good idea to go rushing there now I guess."

"As much as I wish I could it would be stupid, Uma's probably got some lackies watching the place from what I know of her."

"She'll want to know who you are." Dizzy frowned, "Pretty sure there's not many people who'd have the nerve to do what you did Mal. It was kinda awesome."

"I just did what I had to do." Mal rolled her eyes "Guys like him like picking on people smaller than them, you just have to make sure they know you won't put up with their crap." she paused, grinning slightly, "Y'know what, Hadie will probably be gone for a while. You want me to teach you how to fight?"

"I-really?" Dizzy perked up "I'm not much of a fighter."

"Neither is Evie but I'm pretty sure she can kick ass if she needs to." Mal pointed out, standing up and holding out a hand to Dizzy, "You should always be able to defend yourself.


	9. Back in Auradon

Ben wasn't happy, not at all. He was exhausted and worried and confused.

The last thing he'd expected half way through Saturday was for Lumiere to show up clearly very distressed, though he controlled it well, saying that something had happened and they were needed at Auradon Prep.

He'd driven Ben, Jay and Carlos back there without a word said during the long drive, despite Ben's worried questions, and when they'd arrived they'd been ushered up to Mal's room, where Belle, Adam and Evie were already waiting, the former King and Queen both looking as if they'd been crying, and even Evie's eyes were red.

"What's going on?" Ben's voice sounded distant as he asked-he could guess. Because this was Mal's room and Mal wasn't here, and Belle and Adam looked as if their hearts were breaking and there was only one reason they'd look like that.

Something had happened to Mal.

"The scepter, it disappeared early this morning, there was just a stick in it's place. The curator tried to call Mal but she didn't answer." Belle's voice shook, "So he called us. She texted us at one in the morning about going to join Audrey at the spa... but she wasn't answering us either."

"We called Audrey, she tried to lie but when we told her the scepter was missing she told us Mal called her not long before she texted us asking for Audrey to lie for her."

"Why would she do that?" Evie's voice shook, "Why would she run off like this it's not like her?"

"She was still worried about the scepter." Ben's voice was quiet, filled with worry, "She's been so stressed out lately with Leah's transfer and she's been having weird dreams I just thought it was because of the stress."

"But if she was worried why would she run away?" Jay shook his head, "Mal's the type to run towards danger not run away. Audrey had no idea where she's going?"

"No, she said Mal was worried about something but she didn't say where she was going."

"She never told me much about the dreams, just that they said something worse was coming. If they were a warning... if she was right I told her she was just paranoid." Ben's voice cracked and Carlos wrapped an arm around his shoulder.

"It's not your fault." His voice was quiet, "You didn't think there was a real threat,"

"None of us did." Adam shook his head, "When the Scepter was returned we thought it was just some prank we thought we were safe. Mal was the only one who realized something was wrong."

"Where would she have gone?" Evie wiped her eyes, "We have to find her. She could be in danger."

"She'll be trying to find whatever is stronger than the scepter." Ben said after a moment, "My mom said only one thing was more powerful but... I have no idea what it is or where to even start and if her dreams told her anything she didn't tell me. Probably because I was telling her she shouldn't be worrying about them."

"There has to be something." Evie stood up, pacing around the room, "She... why didn't she call us? Why didn't she ask for help."

"She couldn't call us." Jay nodded to Carlos and Ben. "Our phones had no signal and if she somehow found out about the scepter in the museum being a fake she wouldn't have wanted to waste time picking us up."

"But what about me." Evie shook her head, "She knows I'd have come with her, she's my best friend other than you guys I'd have went with her no matter where she was going."

Ben closed his eyes, bowing his head, Evie's words echoing in his head before his eyes widened, "No-no." there was panic in his voice, "There's a reason she didn't tell anyone what she was doing." he lifted his head, "You two wouldn't have let her go." that was directed at Adam and Belle, and his head swung to look at Evie, "and she promised you, she told you after the Coronation she'd never ever send you back there no matter what."

That made Evie's eyes widen in shock and realisation and she let out a horrified noise. "No! No she wouldn't have! She wouldn't have rushed off on her own-"

"Where? Where do you think she's gone?" Adam asked loudly, "Where's our little girl?"

"The Isle." Jay breathed out, catching on. "She's gone to the Isle."

"Crap." Carlos shook his head, "That's not good. It's gonna be a pain in the ass to find her-"

"You'll go looking for her?" Belle's voice was hopeful."

"Well yeah." Carlos shrugged, "She's our friend and we owe her a lot of course we'll go."

"We'll send guards-"

"No." Ben shook his head quickly, "With all due respect Adam if you send a bunch of guards to find her then the Isle will know she's there in less than an hour and if some of the nastier villains find out.."

"They'll kill her, or use her to blackmail you." Evie finished, her face pale, "Whatever happens we cannot let the news that Mal is on the Isle get out."

"We won't-we'll keep up with the lie she told us, we'll tell Audrey to tell anyone who asks that Mal is with her taking a break before the Cotillion." Belle promised, "But you four... please be careful the Isle is more dangerous now than ever."

"We will be." Ben gave a weak smile, "We'll bring her home."

"Be very very careful." Adam reached out, laying a hand on Ben's shoulder, "We care about all of you. The last thing we want is to find out one of you got hurt."

"We'll be careful." Jay stated firmly, "We'll watch each others backs, we always have." he rested a hand on Evie's shoulder, squeezing gently, "Are we all going?"

"Of course." Evie nodded, "I might not have ever wanted to go back there but... Mal needs us so I'll go." she paused, "The question is where do we even begin to start looking?"

"That's a good question." Carlos frowned, "And how long is she gonna last without being seen her hair's kind of a give away."

"Mal's smart." Belle spoke up, leaning into her husbands side, "She'll change her hair."

"A spell won't last past the barrier." Ben pointed out, "And she doesn't have any hair dye and she wouldn't have wasted time with that anyway so how-"

"Dizzy!" Evie gasped the name, "I told her all about Dizzy when I was giving her my recommendations for the next kids from the Isle to come through the barrier. If she's planning on changing her hair she'll go to Dizzy."

"So we have a starting place." Ben let out breath, "That's good. That's really good."

"You can take one of the limos." Belle said quickly, "Thank you. All of you... just-"

"Bring our little girl home." Adam squeezed Belle's hand gently. "No matter what else you do just bring her home please."

"We will." Ben nodded his head, "I want her home too. Believe me no matter what else happens I am not leaving the Isle without her."

"None of us are." Evie spoke up, and Jay and Carlos both nodded.

"We're bringing her home." Carlos declared.

"Just hold tight and we'll bring her home and deal with whoever stole the sceptre before you know it." Jay promised firmly.


	10. Chapter 10

Time passed quickly, Mal spent a while teaching Dizzy some basic self defense-and the grin on the girls face when she'd managed to knock Mal on her ass had been worth every second of correcting the younger girls form.

And it was Dizzy who after a few hours snuck out to get them both some food-which Mal did eat this time, though she really didn't like the fact that most of the food they seemed to have available was stuff that was starting to go bad.

But Mal was willing to admit that as they day drew on and the hours added up she started to get more and more worried.

She'd known Hadie might be a couple of hours, but it had been at least eight hours when Mal shook her head and stood up from where she'd been sitting looking through an old sketchbook of Evie's-her friend had always been an aspiring fashion designer even if she'd not let herself really want it until Auradon. "It's been too long." she ran her fingers through her hair, "Dizzy we need to... something might have gone wrong we need to go and find Hadie."

"Do you think his dad caught him?" Dizzy's voice was worried, "Hades has a temper everyone knows that. Do you think he'd hurt him?"

"I'd hope not but I don't know Hades." Mal grimaced, "Which means that there's a real chance he might."

"Then we've gotta get to him."

"Do you know of any way to get to where Hades lives?"

"I know Hades lives in a cave-and I know there are two ways in." Dizzy told Mal quickly, "The one Celia uses and the one Hadie uses."

"Do you know the way Hadie uses? I don't want to drag Celia into this. It's bad enough that I've put you and Hadie in danger-"

"We don't mind." Dizzy grinned at Mal, "It's kinda exciting actually, I get to help save Auradon like a hero!"

"Yeah, yeah you do." Mal smiled softly, she had to admit that she could see why Evie was so fond of the younger girl and there was no way in hell that Mal was gonna leave her stuck on the Isle for long she knew that much. "Now you didn't answer the question Dizzy, do you know Hadie's entrance."

"Oh right! Yeah." Dizzy nodded, "Yeah I do. Under the basement of Dragon Hall-the school."

"Will anyone be in there?"

"Only a few teachers." Dizzy frowned, "We should be able to break in."

"Let's do this then." Mal took a deep breath, "Lead the way Dizzy."

And so the two girls left the safety of their friends hideout and Mal followed Dizzy once more, dipping through alley's and stalls selling things that Mal could see were rubbish from Auradon-and she really did hate the fact that their rubbish got sent here, she had banned it after her Coronation but she knew some people sent barges as slyly as they could, and she was pretty sure certain Council members were hijacking shipments to the Isle to prevent them from arriving but she needed to find out who was involved before she could strip them of their council positions and punish them appropriately.

As they emerged from one alley Mal had to grab Dizzy's shoulder and yank her backwards, pressing her hand over the younger girls mouth as a familiar voice said "I wanna find that girl and make her pay Uma, she has my hook."

"You should have been more careful." that was a girls voice, and Mal closed her eyes tightly, pressing herself back against the wall harder as she heard the three people walking past the alley, thanking god that she'd noticed that flashy red coat. "Still, you got me a pretty bracelet out of it so it could have been worse." the voice was amused, "Maybe this Lorri will come back for it."

And that was annoying, it was safe to assume Harry had seen her bracelet on the ground and picked it up. "Still it doesn't look good. We'll find this Lorri girl and kick her ass, she's probably with that Dizzy."

"We'll find em." Harry snarled the word. "And we'll make her pay for it."

"Or she'll kick your butt again." the third voice was very clearly on the verge of laughing.

"It isn't funny Gil." the girl, Uma Mal had to assume, snapped, "If word gets out people won't be as scared, and I need them scared to keep our territory, we earned those losers territory we're not gonna lose it because Harry got his ass handed to him by some girl."

"But we dunno who she is, how are we gonna find her?"

"We use our brains." Mal could almost sense the eye roll Uma was doing. "We find the Tremaine brat and we find the girl." the voices faded as the trio moved past the alley, and after several moments Mal let out a breath, her eyes focusing on Dizzy as the younger girl pressed close to her side.

"Are you okay?" her voice was filled with concern, "God Dizzy I am so sorry this is my fault. You're in danger because of me."

"It's okay." Dizzy let out a shaky breath, "I just need to lay low until you've gone."

"No it's not. They're not gonna leave you alone just because I've left." Mal groaned, "I screwed up big time I'm sorry."

"You were trying to help." Dizzy gave a small smile, "Besides I was there a few times where Uma's gang went up against Braeden's and the trouble always blew over eventually."

"I hope it does." Mal sighed, shaking her head, "Right, back on task. Let's find a way down to Hades cave then shall we?"

"We're not far from the school." Dizzy gave a small grin as they set off again, and Dizzy was right, it wasn't long before they reached the large building that was Dragon Hall.

Mal followed Dizzy's confident steps as the girl led her to a smashed window which they used to slip into the building.

Once they were inside Evie led her out of the classroom they'd slipped into-a science class Mal had to assume from all of the weird looking equipment, and together they padded through the halls of the school and down some rather foreboding looking steps into the basements.  
"Hadie told me his entrance was down here somewhere." Dizzy said firmly, "He didn't tell me exactly where but he said it was a tunnel."

"Right." Mal nodded, looking around and smirking slightly to herself, "Y'know Dizzy I would say that someone needs to dust this place but I don't think that'd help us." she pointed at the thin layer of dust on the floor, where, faint though it was, Mal could see a trail of footprints.

"Genius." Dizzy grinned, "C'mon then let's go and see if Hadie needs our help."  
She grabbed Mal's hand and they followed the footsteps to a wall which had several dusty old carpets rolled up leaning against it with drag marks in the dust.

"You grab one end." Mal ordered, "And I'll grab the other, and we'll drag them to the side so we can get into the tunnel."

"Okay."

"Right." Dizzy nodded, grabbing one of the carpets at the bottom while Mal grabbed it at the top and together they lifted it and dragged it away, and sure enough they could see the entrance to the cave, a gaping hole in the wall.

Two more carpets moved and the girls had revealed enough of the entrance to squeeze in, though Mal hesitated for a moment. "It doesn't look like there's much light in there." she pointed out softly, "It'll probably be pitch black."

"I..." Dizzy looked nervous for a second before she reached out and grabbed Mal's hand "Hadie is my friend I want to help him. I'm coming with you."

"As long as you're sure." Mal took a deep breath before ducking into the small tunnel-and it was small, she could only just stand up in it, and she could feel how uneven the ground was beneath her feet.

This was going to be a nightmare in the dark.

She felt Dizzy climbing into the tunnel behind her, still gripping Mal's hand hard, almost too hard, the younger girl was clearly scared-and god but Mal wanted to hug her, she was gonna make sure the brave girl who'd been so insanely helpful to her was given everything she ever wanted after this was over.

"No going back after this point." Mal whispered, "You can still wait in the basement if you want Dizzy I wouldn't blame you."

"I told you I'm coming." to her credit Dizzy's voice barely trembled, and from what Mal could see in the dim light that came from the tunnels entrance the girls face was set into a look of grim determination.

"Then hold my hand and don't let go. I don't want to lose you." Mal stated firmly, "And we have to be quiet we don't know how far we'll have to go or how much the noise carries here."

"Right." Dizzy mimed zipping her mouth shut with the hand that wasn't clinging to Mal's, and together they turned towards the darkness and slowly started moving through the tunnel.

Mal kept one arm outstretched in front of her so that she wouldn't bump into anything as they moved through the tunnel.

It was a slow journey-the ground was so uneven and the last thing Mal wanted was for her and Dizzy to trip and get hurt.

Before long the ground began to slope downwards, which made it even harder going as stones skidded beneath their feet at times and there were several near misses for both Mal and Dizzy, though thankfully they managed to avoid actually falling.

After what felt like hours there was a light and Mal could see in the distance the exit to the tunnel.

She glanced back towards Dizzy, seeing the younger girls face, which was deathly pale. Together they moved to the exit for the tunnel, and as they got closer she could hear dogs barking-not good.

As they reached the end of the tunnel Mal squeezed Dizzy's hand, taking a slow deep breath before peering out into the cave beyond.


	11. The Ember

The cave, Mal couldn't help but notice, was huge, there were lamps lighting it, though it wasn't exactly a bright light.

She looked around carefully, trying to stay out of sight as she looked around, taking in the wooden stairs and platforms around the place.

Her eyes were drawn to the figure sleeping sprawled out on a couch, a pair of sunglasses covering his eyes. His blue hair made it very obvious who he was-he looked a lot like Hadie actually, and there was something weirdly familiar about him, though she couldn't quite place what it was. She definitely felt like she was missing something big. But she shook her head to force away those thoughts, Hadie. They were here for Hadie and if they could get it they would grab the Ember too.

And thinking of Hadie-aha. Her eyes focused on a figure sat looking very annoyed not too far from his dad, tied to a chair glaring at his sleeping dad.

Well she'd been right clearly something had gone wrong, Hades must have caught him trying to steal the Ember and decided to punish him by tying him up. That was annoying to say the least.

She scanned the room again, searching for any sign of the barking dog except- her eyes narrowed. No dog, but there was a record player and she was pretty sure that was where the sound was coming from.

Maybe it was just her but that was slightly annoying. She'd been real worried at first though it could be useful in getting around without waking the God up.

She pulled her head back, letting go of Dizzy's hand and gently resting her hands on the younger girls shoulder, guiding her so that she could peer into the cave too to before pulling her back, a serious look on her face as she mouthed, 'I'll get Hadie, you stand here and get ready to run.'  
Dizzy nodded carefully, and Mal turned away and very slowly inched her way out of the tunnel, holding a finger to her lips when Hadie saw her and his eyes widened as they flicked between her and the sleeping Hades.

Thankfully he was smart enough to stay silent.

Slowly, desperately trying to be as quiet as she could Mal inched her way towards Hadie.

The younger boy swallowed hard, clearly looking worried.

Then he nodded towards something on the table at the end of Hades' couch and Mal followed his gaze, her eyes widened in shock when she saw a familiar looking blue crystal like rock resting in a little holder of some kind. Yeah that was definitely what she'd come here looking for

She pressed her lips together, thinking quickly before glancing back to Dizzy, who was watching with wide eyes.

She pointed towards the stone, the Ember. The key to saving Auradon. She was so close, but the priority was getting Hadie untied. She'd dragged these kids into danger she couldn't them get hurt because of her self imposed mission.

Which was why she headed to him and started on the ropes tying the boy to the chair, glancing back and watching worriedly as Dizzy crept slowly across the floor, the barking masking the noise of the girls movements.

Mal managed to untie the last knots and push them aside as Dizzy reached the head of the couch, and she carefully pulled Hadie to his feet, watching Dizzy's fingers curl around the ember, and then she had it and she was moving away, creeping so very very slowly that Mal wanted to scream. All of their nerves were on edge.

Then Hades' hand shot out and grabbed Dizzy's wrist and Dizzy let out a scream, throwing the Ember through the air. "Lorri catch!"

Mal snatched it from the air, tossing it to Hadie. "Hadie run!"

And Hadie nodded, taking off towards the tunnel exit as Mal rushed towards Dizzy and Hades, who was on his feet now, his sunglasses tossed to the side.

"Who do you think you are?" he demanded, "Give me back my Ember!"

"Let her go!" Mal literally tackled him, forcing him to release his grip on Dizzy's arm as they both hit the wooden floor hard, Mal rolling instant, "Run Dizzy!" she screamed the words, watching as Dizzy took off too, sprinting towards the tunnel and scrambling into it.

Mal made to stand but Hades grabbed her ankle when she was up on her knees and he yanked hard, forcing her back down. "Oh you're not running away!" the voice was a snarl, "You're the one who convinced my idiot of a son to steal my ember!"

"Oh it's all my fault." Mal spat out as Hades pulled himself to his knees, grip on her ankle stopping her from getting away. "Nothing to do with the fact that you're a crappy dad who ties his kid up for trying to steal-"

"My Ember is dangerous but I wouldn't expect a stupid little girl like you to understand-ah!" his cry of pain was caused by Mal lashing out with her other foot, kicking him in the face hard, which made him release his grip on her ankle and she scrambled to her feet quickly, making a break for the tunnel, but Hades was faster and older and he managed to grab her from behind, spinning her and tossing her onto the couch, making her let out a winded gasp.

"I know that you don't have it." Mal shot back mockingly, "So well done with that, you're a crappy father and you can't even protect a stupid rock."

"How dare you!" Hades roared the words, "You little brat I'm gonna-"

"Mal!" Dizzy's voice echoed through the cave, and Hades froze, eyes widening in shock, his head lifting to look at Dizzy, who was stood with Hadie at the entrance to the tunnel, both of them stood there, and they both threw stones at Hades, with Hadie crying out loudly.

"Let her go dad! Lorri run!"

Both of the stones missed, but Hades looked back down at Mal, a strange look on his face-his expression was almost pained "Who- Little Mali?"

"Mallory!" Dizzy screamed her name, and Mal lashed out, using Hades moment of agony to her advantage, though when Dizzy screamed her full name the look seemed to clear and all that was left was rage-but it wasn't fast enough and Mal's fist hit his cheek hard even as her mind race and she scrambled off the couch as Hades reared back looking furious as he stumbled, probably more from shock than from the blow, but Mal managed to turned and run, her footsteps loud as she raced to the others and almost dove through the tunnel entrance, Hadie and Dizzy each grabbing one of her arms as they took off running, Hades bellowing with rage behind them, and he'd undoubtedly follow the, he'd give chance which meant they had to be fast or they were dead meat.

"HADIE!" Hades yell echoed through the tunnel as they scrambled along it, the rage in his voice making Mal shudder. "BRING ME BACK MY EMBER NOW!"

And god but there was something about that voice-the way he'd looked, stunned and confused and the way he'd said little Mali... she'd heard it before she realized, the familiarity was there for a reason.

Her dream. The dream she'd had before the scepter was stolen, that voice. Why had she dreamed of that voice.

Her steps faltered and Mal twisted, her eyes wide as she made to turn back around, to rush back towards Hades and demand to know what was going on-though logically she knew he probably had no more idea than she did.

Then Hadie was yanking her arm hard. "What are you doing?" He nearly screamed the words, "He's gaining on us he won't kill me but he'll sure as hell kill you and Dizzy!"

That jerked Mal out of her confused thoughts and she focused again, running with the two kids her heart pounding in her chest as they tripped and staggered up the stepper sections which had been so easy to go down, moving ever upwards even with Hades' yells and the chase echoing in the cave behind them as they fled.

It took what felt like hours to reach the surface and they burst out of the entrance in the basement of Dragon Hall all landing in a heap, panting, but Mal forced herself to move, grabbing Dizzy and dragging her away, since Hadie was already moving.

Clearly their minds worked in the same way because they both looked at each other and the carpets and then they were grabbing them and dragging them so that they were back upright and blocking the entrance to the cave-sure Hades would be able to push his way through but it might by them a bit of time, and as soon as the entrance was blocked Hadie and Mal were spinning and grabbing Dizzy's hands before taking off once more, through the corridors and up the stairs-and Mal was pretty sure she hadn't had a work out this good in a long time she could feel her muscles aching.

By the time they reached the classroom with the smashed window the three of them were barely able to stand as they staggered to the window and climbed out, taking a moment just to breath, all three of them leaning with their backs against the wall beneath the window.

"That." Hades managed to pant out after a long moment, still struggling to catch his breath. "Was completely insane. You two are completely insane."

"What, didn't think we'd come for you." Mal shot him a sidelong glance.

"Didn't think you'd be crazy enough to find me and sneak in." he shot back with a very faint grin on his lips. "You were kind of awesome, both of you."

"I was so scared." Dizzy giggled, "That was the most scary thing I've ever done."

"You were both amazing." Mal's voice was firm, "Seriously you both saved my ass down there." though she could hear a niggling voice in the back of her mind telling her that she hadn't been in that much danger.

"Hadie do you still have the Ember?"

"Yeah." Hadie nodded, pulling it out of his pocket and holding it out to Mal. "We did it. We actually did it didn't we?"

"Yeah." Mal nodded, smiling, "If I pull this then you guys helped save Auradon." she took the stone carefully, turning it over in her hands. "You guys are so totally heroes."


	12. Threats

Once the exhausted trio had caught their breath they decided it was probably better not to stick around too long-Hades would be looking for them and it wouldn't take him that long to realise that they were no longer in the building. Of course there was the question of where was the safest place to go, Dizzy needed to check in on her Grandmother some time soon, or at least see if Uma's gang had trashed the salon-it was pretty likely, so while the safest place might still be the VK's hang out-or in Mal's case it would probably be best to go straight to her bike and flee the Isle before Hades or Uma caught up, both Mal and Dizzy agreed that they weren't letting Dizzy go there alone-not a chance they both agreed on that much, which was why instead of splitting up-which would be safer for Hadie and Mal, they headed towards Lady Tremaine's Curl Up and Dye Salon together, Mal with her arms wrapped over both of the younger kids shoulders, and in her pocket she had both Harry's hook and Hades' Ember.

It was shocking to think that her mission had been successful so quickly-though she definitely wouldn't call the frantic fleeing from Hades easy.

In any case Mal was willing to take a little bit longer to get home in order to make sure that Dizzy wasn't about to get jumped by one of Harry Hooks buddies trying to find out where the girl who'd humiliated him was.

They kept their heads down as they made their way through the streets and alleys that led to the Tremaine's salon-and Mal winced when they finally reached it to see that there was graffiti all over the walls-Uma's name across the doors, a very obvious sign, and the door looked like it had been pummeled.

Mal pulled Dizzy slightly closer as they made their way inside of the building, which did not look good, everything had been thrown around and tossed to the floor. "I'm so sorry." Mal released her grip on Dizzy as she stepped further inside, pulling away from Mal as she looked around, a despondent look on her face.

"I'm gonna be in so much trouble." Dizzy's voice was almost a whine, "My grandmother's gonna kill me and so's Harry and Uma."

"We're gonna figure this out." Mal stated firmly, looking around and picking up as many bits and pieces as she could.

"Yeah, how exactly do we do that?" Hadie raised an eyebrow as he put them next to the till. "Looks like they busted the till open too."

"There wasn't any money in there." Dizzy shook her head, "The only money I have is the money Mal gave me."

"That's something then-" Hadie paused, "Wait a second there's a note."

Mal moved quickly, vaulting over the counter and plucking the note from Hadie's hand and unfolding it.

"What does it say?" Dizzy asked quickly, her eyes wide.

"If you don't want your precious salon to be closed for good bring the Hook to Ursula's by the end of the day." Mal read slowly.

"It's a trap." Hadie shook his head, "It has to be a trap right."

"Yeah." Mal sighed, "But I think the threats probably real." she looked at Dizzy, "What do you want to do Dizzy. Your choice. I think your best bet is to get the hook back to Harry, but I don't expect you to be the one to take it back."

"I'm not letting you go alone." Dizzy's voice was slightly shaky, "They'll kill you Mal, after how you humiliated Harry."

"I could take it-they won't recognise me." Hadie suggested quickly, "I could take it in, keep my head down and leave it on the counter or something."

"And what'll you do if one of them grabs you. They want me or Dizzy, probably me more than Dizzy." Mal pointed out, "No it has to be one of us."

"But they'll recognise you both." Hadie shook his head, "You'll get hurt and you need to get back to save Auradon."

"I cannot leave without fixing the mess I caused." Mal's voice was firm "Maybe I'm being a dumbass but it's not happening."

"Ugh." Hadie rolled his eyes, "You can definitely tell you were raising in Auradon. You're too nice for your own good sometimes."

Mal's eyes narrowed and she picked up a curler, throwing it at the younger boy. "Shut it." she ordered, smiling at Dizzy's weak giggles. The girl was clearly terrified but she was trying to stay strong-it made Mal's heart ache to see it.

"So." Mal clapped her hands together, "Ignoring a certain blue haired dumbasses comments-" Dizzy giggled louder at that, "Is there any way we can get in there without being recognised and killed?"

"Um.." Dizzy paused, a thoughtful look on her face, "Maybe, actually yeah. If we use some of the wigs-I got a bunch to practice on. They're not the best but if we use them and some new clothes and keep our heads down-"

"It'll do." Mal nodded, "Do you have clothes?"

"I have some I can wear but-"

"I'll go steal you some." Hadie offered quickly, "I'll keep my head down and get something plain.. your plan might work... maybe. It's worth a try."

"Thank you Hadie." Mal grinned, "Try not to get caught again."

"Y'know," Hadie pointed at her, "You're on thin ice your highness. Thin ice."

"Uh huh." Mal smirked, "I'm real scared baby flame." they both laughed, and Hadie darted out quickly.

While he was gone and while Dizzy ran off to her room to get the wigs Mal quickly got to work cleaning.

While most people would think that as the heir to the throne of Auradon she would have been raised without having to so much as lift a finger they'd be wrong. Yes there were servants that did most of the cleaning, but her mother had always been really strict about making sure she cleared up after herself once she turned seven, because a Queen should always be willing to get her hands dirty if she needed to and she should understand how hard servants worked.

It was a good thing in Mal's opinion, that she knew how to clean, she'd made her fair share of messes that she'd had to clear up-the worst had been when she and Audrey spilled paint all over the carpets in her room, she'd had to scrub at it for ages.

In any case a little hard work didn't kill her and she was fairly efficient.

By the time Dizzy returned carrying two wigs Mal had gotten the worst of the mess up, though it wasn't spotless of course.

Dizzy looked startled when she looked around, the wigs tucked under either arm. "You cleaned up."

"Of course, the mess was mostly my fault." Mal shrugged, "I figured I should help clear up."

"Thank you." Dizzy's smile was radiant and Mal laughed softly.

"Seriously, any decent person would have done exactly the same thing. Now, think you can get the wig on me?"

"Of course." Dizzy nodded, "Sit down and I'll get the cap on."

Mal did as she was told, letting Dizzy brush out her hair for the second time-it had gotten tangled during the chaos of the day anyway, and Mal relaxed, giving a faint smile as the other girl pulled Mal's hair into a tight little bun before pulling the cap on and fixing the wig on Mal's head, spending several minutes making sure it was sat just right.

The wig itself was short and brown, shoulder length-Mal's hair hadn't been that short since she was like six years old and it felt weird staring at herself in the mirror. Still it looked different, and Dizzy spent a little bit of time with some make up that somehow-and Mal really did not understand the mysterious magic of make up-that was so much more Evie and Audrey's domain than hers, it had made her face look slightly thinner and her nose and lips somehow looked a different shape-honestly it was impressive, if slightly terrifying how different Mal looked.

"There." Dizzy pulled back, "You look different." then the young girl set to work on herself, pulling on a blond wig that was long and wavy, though she didn't use too much make up on herself-after all her glasses were the most distinctive part of her look, and she had a spare pare that were just plain metal frames that didn't look right on the bubbly lively girl, they were too plain and boring-which presumably was why Dizzy wasn't wearing them.  
But they'd work for helping her look different.

"Think we'll pass?" Mal raised an eyebrow.

"Let's see what clothes Hadie gets us but I think we should be okay." Dizzy smiled brightly. "We're gonna be okay."

"Damn right we are." Mal nodded with a small grin.

And when Hadie returned maybe half an hour later he presented Mal with a plain brown leather jacket, a grubby off white tshirt and some leather gloves.

When she put them on she had to admit she did look different, she would definitely be able to fool anyone who didn't look closely.  
And Dizzy pulled on a much plainer dress, a grubby blue thing rather than the colorful one she'd been wearing before.

With that done the three of them exchanged looks, Mal giving a small grin, "Okay you guys, ready to walk into the Pirates lair and drop off Harry's hook? Dizzy and I should go in, Hadie can you keep watch outside in case anything bad happens?"

"Sure." Hadie nodded, "I can do that."


	13. Enter Shrimpy

When the trio reached the fish and chip shop Hadie ducked into some shadows while the two girls headed inside pushing the doors open and they kept their heads down as they made their way to a table in the corner, away from the main long table filled with pirates who were presumably part of Uma's crew.

Mal spotted Harry there, his body angled so she couldn't see his face, sat next to a dark skinned girl with long blue hair in lots of thin braids, and a boy with fair hair with a bandanna covering most of his hair.

Dizzy shifted slightly as they dropped into the chairs of the table and she closed closer to Mal and whispered "She's Uma."

"Huh." Mal whispered back, glancing towards Uma. And okay she'd been slightly jealous when Ben had first mentioned Uma to her but now that she could see the girl she could kinda get it-and wasn't that a surprising thought-she couldn't wait to see her boyfriends face when she told him she got why he'd occasionally make out with the daughter of Ursula.

There was a tv behind the longer table and Mal pulled a face when she saw that it was showing a news report about her and Ben's dinner with Aladdin and Jasmine-especially since Harry jeered at the TV and tossed some food at it.

"Traitor." there was laughter from the pirates, and Uma glared at the TV.

"We'll make them regret leaving." Uma's voice was filled with dark promise and Mal ducked her head slightly, trying to avoid being seen. "Prince Ben. What a fake." she grabbed some food too, and Mal had to force herself not to wince as the TV was pelted with food, "And his pretty little Queen girlfriend." Uma snorted, "She should have been one of us too. They're all traitors." and wow Mal could definitely feel the love here.

"My dad said he'd like to kill the Queen and Braeden." the fair haired boy-and he was definitely the one from earlier, the voice was the same, said.

"Well yeah." Uma rolled her eyes, "Your dad's obsessed. Not that he's likely to get the chance. Those posers won't ever show their faces here." and Mal really did have to stifle her laughter at that. If only she knew.

"We'll find a way out and make them pay." Harry said, "Won't we Uma."

"Damn right." Uma nodded, "But first we have to make sure everyone knows that we're the baddest gang in town." Uma shot Harry an annoyed look, "I have to clear up after your mess."

Harry turned his head at that point-and Mal's eyes widened when she saw his face-his nose was swollen and his eyes were starting to bruise all around the broken nose.

She could hear Dizzy snickering too.

"I know." Harry's voice was almost petulant, "I didn't expect the girl to be a fighter. And I got you that bracelet didn't I?"

"And she got your hook-"

"Not helping Gil." Uma snapped, holding up a hand to silence him, "You'll recognize her if she shows? Or the Tremaine brat?"

"Yeah." Harry nodded, eyes dark, "I'd recognize her anywhere."

At that Mal glanced at Dizzy and mouthed 'Would he now' which made the other girl have to cover her mouth with her hand.

Unfortunately that drew Gil's attention and the boy grinned over at them, calling out, "What's so funny?" and Mal resisted the urge to bang her head on the table when Uma and Harry both twisted to look at her, and their entire crew did too. Wonderful, just fantastic.

"Nothing much." Mal waved a hand dismissively, the plan hadn't included anyone important noticing them. Especially not those three-and Mal had to admit she hadn't considered what she might do if she ran into Gaston's son. "Inside jokes."

"Oh, care to share?" Uma's eyes were narrowed slightly. And Harry was staring at them too.

"We'd rather not." Mal stood up, carefully slipping the hook out of her pocket and holding it behind her back, "We don't want a fight today. We'll leave if you want."

"You do that." Uma's gaze was on them, and Mal carefully dropped the hook onto the seat of the chair she'd been sitting on as she moved, heading towards the door of the shop with Dizzy right behind her. Of course that meant walking past Uma, and she tried not to show how tense she was as she moved, but of course Uma had clearly suspected that something more was up and as Mal was walking past she leaned over the table and gripped Mal's hair, yanking hard, dragging the wig off and half pulling off the cap.

"Hey!"

"Knew it." Uma was leaping over the table as Dizzy let out a yell and scrambled backwards, and suddenly pirates were blocking the doors. Oh wow. They were so so very screwed right now. "The wig was crooked... gotta say it was a good try-"

"We just wanted to get in and out." Mal tugged the cap off her head, smirking at the way Harry's eyes narrowed at her.

"Well well well, if it isn't the bitch from earlier-"

"If it isn't the wannabe loser pirate who got his ass beat." Mal shot back, unable to help herself before she focused on Uma. "I don't want trouble. All I wanted was to get my hair done and your lackey showed up and crashed the party."

"He was taking what was ours." Uma didn't even hesitate, eyes traveling up and down Mal's body, "Think of it as a protection fee."

"I think I get it." Mal gave a small smirk back, "They give you the money, you don't trash the place and terrorize them right?"

"You got it."

"I'm.. new around here." Mal have a small shrug, "Spent most of my life all locked up with my parents, don't get out much. I'm still learning the way things work here." she glanced down to Uma's wrist, to the bracelet on her wrist, "Besides, seems like you got something decent out of it. His hooks on the chair-" she snorted when Harry nearly sprinted over to the chair she'd been sat in earlier and picked up his hook, cradling it like a baby.

"Oh, this?" Uma smirked as she held up her wrist, "It's not really my style but what can I say, it's sparkly."

"You gonna back off the Tremaine's salon now?" Mal crossed her arms over her chest.

"Hm.. I dunno." Uma stepped closer to Mal, "Y'know I like you, you're tough. Have to be to handle Harry like you did-"

"Oh please." Mal smirked, "He just made the mistake of treating me like some helpless princess." she wrinkled her nose at the last word, "Gotta say it's a mistake a lot of people have made, usually it ends with them bloody and bruised."

"Y'know there's always space on my crew, for someone who knows how to fight."

"I appreciate the offer." Mal shrugged "But I'm more of a loner. I fight my own battles and I fix my own screw ups, don't think I could deal with the hassle of a crew." she rolled her eyes glancing towards Harry.

"Oh I like you." Uma's smirk was positively shark like as she leaned closer to Mal, "Gotta say I know I don't know you but you do seem kinda familiar."

"Dunno why." Mal shrugged, "I feel like I'd remember if I met someone like you." she smirked back-and this was fun, so so much more fun than talking with idiotic Councillors who were stuck in the mud and the past, even if Uma was definitely not a friend and was truthfully more of any enemy.  
She could definitely see why Ben had been interested in her, the other girl was smart and badass and Mal was willing to admit could very possibly take her in a fight and she wasn't exactly some weakling.

Uma at least seemed rather smug at Mal's words, "Well that's true I guess. Still, I don't know if I should let you leave-"

"Please." Dizzy pressed herself close to Mal's side, "We brought back the hook."

"Shut it runt." Harry glared, "I don't trust 'em U-"

"Oh shut up." Mal rolled her eyes, giving Harry an amused look, "Just because you're still upset that you got your ass kicked by a girl half your size-you'd think with a boss like Uma you'd realize that there's a lot of girls that can kick your ass."

"And steal your hook." Gil grinned, and Mal had to stifle her laughter as Harry whirled on Gil and waved his hook at him threateningly.

"Hey he's not wrong." Mal grinned, "Don't be mean to the boy just cause you're embarrassed Harry."

"Why you-" Harry whirled around, advancing on Mal, which made Dizzy press even closer to her, but Uma held up a hand and yelled.

"Enough!" which made Harry stop mid step, still scowling.

"But Uma-"

"I said enough." Uma's eyes were glued to Mal, "She's not wrong she kicked your ass Harry." she tilted her head, "I like you, I do, you have guts newbie. But I don't want any competition if you get my meaning. So I don't think I am gonna let you leave, not before you agree to join my crew."

"Yeah that's not happening." Mal shook her head, "No offence or anything Uma but I work alone-believe me I'm not competition-I only stopped your little lacky from stealing from Dizzy 'cause the girl did a great job with my hair."

"See, did I say you have a choice?" Uma raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna join my crew or you're not leaving."

Mal pressed her lips together tightly. Well this hadn't gone as planned at all. On one hand they hadn't got attacked yet, on the other hand trying to leave would not go over at all well.

And then, as if the universe hadn't given Mal enough issues to work though, she saw a familiar brown furry face poking in through the doors, and Mal felt the urge to scream. Because there was the little red collar, and the red and white leather doggy jacket that Evie had made for him.

Dude.

And if Dude was on the Isle that meant that at the very least Carlos was too. That made things just that bit more urgent and Mal looked around quickly, eyes searching for something, anything, they could use to get out.

As if drawn by magic she noticed a large bucket on the counter next to Uma-it was filled with shrimp, presumably it was supposed to be taken into the kitchen and used as ingredient. But it would serve Mal's purposes well enough.

She lunged forward, grabbing the bucket and tossing the contents at Uma's face before tossing the bucket in Harry's face when he moved to rush them, grabbing Uma's wrist and yanking her bracelet off in one smooth motion, and when the pirates blocking the doors rushed forward she grabbed Dizzy's arm and ducked between them, sprinting out with a backwards glance and a little wave, "Buh bye shrimpy."


	14. An unpleasant meeting

When they burst out of the shop Hadie stepped into view quickly, "What-"

"No time!" Mal yelled the words, taking off at a run, because she could hear yelling from inside of the fish and chip shop and she knew that she wouldn't have brought them much time.

She caught his arm and dragged the boy with them, and a glance down told her that Dude was running with them. That was good, she wondered if Carlos had asked him to find her or if he'd come on his own-either way he'd be able to take her to wherever his owner was she knew that much.  
They ran for quite a while, until the yells of pursuit were no longer audible and they ducked into an alley to catch their breaths, Hadie glaring accusingly, "Y'know since I've met you I don't seem to be able to go more than couple of hours without having to run away."

"Not my fault-"

"It kinda was." Dizzy was panting and grinning, "But it was so cool."

"What happened?" Hadie glanced between them, "Did you just piss off Uma's whole crew?"

"Uma wasn't letting us leave so Lorrie threw a bucket of shrimp at her." Dizzy giggled, "It was crazy. And as we were leaving she went 'Buh bye shrimpy'"

"And I just made an enemy for life I think." Mal grinned, "But it really was beautiful."

"You're insane." Hadie deadpanned, "You are completely insane. Like, I am seriously concerned about your mental health level insane she is gonna  
hunt you down and kill you Lorri."

"Ah but I don't exactly plan on staying here for that much longer, and if it's too dangerous for Dizzy she can come with me."

Dizzy's eyes widened "Like, today?"

"Does that offer extent to me?" Hadie raised an eyebrow, "Because my dad is going to literally murder me for stealing his Ember."

"Well duh." Mal grinned, "I should just about be able to get you both back with me."

Hadie blinked, because clearly he hadn't expected her to say yes, "Wait, are you seriously saying you'll take us both back to Auradon-"

"Technically the Isle is part of Auradon but yes I will be taking you back to Auradon if you want."

"Yes!" Hadie pumped a fist, "Yes I'm getting off this craphole-"

"Shush!" Mal covered his mouth with her hand, "Are you trying to get us caught? Be a bit quieter with your enthusiasm. Now-" she looked down at the dog sat in the mouth of the alley and she crouched down, "C'mere Dude, come here boy."

"Hey, where did he come from?" Hadie frowned, "There's not many-"

"He's my friends dog." Mal smiled as Dude came rushing up to her and licked her hand, "Carlos' dog-"

"Oh wow." Dizzy paused, "Wait why is Carlos' dog here?"

"That is an excellent question." Mal gave a wry smile, "If Dude is here then so's Carlos. So." Mal scratched Dude's head gently, "You gonna be a good boy Dude, can you take me to Carlos?"

The dog barked, licking Mal's hand again.

"I'll take that as a yes." Mal straightened up, "Right Dude, lead the way. C'mon guys let's go and find Carlos and find out why he and Dude are here.. and if he's alone." because the main reason she could think of for Carlos being in Auradon was her.

That would mean the others would all come if they could-and hey maybe they had one of the limo's, there'd be enough space for Hadie and Dizzy then without a struggle. Well she had to hope didn't she?

And so together the three of them followed Dude out of the alley they had taken a breather in and through the streets again.

It was going well, there were no pirates behind them or in front from what Mal could see, and she was just glancing back to double check when she felt Hadie tense beside her and try and drag her sideways as Dizzy darted away slightly on her other side-but it was too late and she crashed into someone a lot taller than her, and she had say he was very muscled, it had been like walking into a wall.

Only Hadie's grip on her arm stopped her from falling over completely, and even then it was a near miss.

She turned her head, face paling dramatically when she took in the sight of the man she'd bumped into-and Hadie clearly realised how very bad this could go because his grip on Mal's arm was tight as she stared at the fairly handsome, if older, face of a man with dark hair tied back from his face.

The red shirt was worn and ragged but Mal had a feeling it was as similar to his old style as he could get.

She knew this Villain.

She could remember when she was little, the child safe version of the story of her parents that they'd told her.

A nasty man, that was what her mother had called him, a nasty man who wanted to marry her mommy even though mommy didn't love him. Who'd tried to hurt Grandpa Maurice and who did hurt her daddy.

She'd been ten when she'd asked to know more about the story, and thirteen when her mother had decided she was old enough for the full story.

She'd refused to let her dad out of her sight for days after that. Her brave strong doting father who would roar at her to make her laugh when she  
was upset and who used to carry her on his shoulders when she got tired had nearly died, if it wasn't for magic he would have been dead because of this man, and the way he'd behaved towards her mother... he was worse than Chad by a log shot and she really did not like Chad at all.

She could feel the sudden nearly overwhelming terror as she stepped backwards, while Gaston glared at her.

"Look where you're going girl." his voice was harsh and Mal flinched, even as Dizzy rushed to her side and grabbed the arm Hadie wasn't already holding tight.

"We're sorry sir." Dizzy said quickly, "We're really sorry."

"C'mon Lorri, let's go." Hadie's nails were almost digging into Mal's arm and there was an undercurrent of panic in his voice.

"Wait-" Gaston reached out quickly, grabbing Mal's chin, "I know you from somewhere."

"No, no you don't." Mal tried to lean away but his grip was tight-there would probably be bruises with his fingerprints later-that would not go down well with her mom and dad.

"No, no I know you from somewhere." the mans eyes were narrowed.

And she remembered what Gil and Uma had said. Gaston was obsessive. He probably still obsessed over her mom, how much did he obsess, did he watch all of the footage of them he could find on the TV's, how much attention would he have paid to her on the TV screen, their beloved daughter.

He knew Ben-he'd recognize Ben and he'd know that Ben was their long lost son, but her? How clear was the picture of her on those screens, how much attention would he pay to the girl they chose, to the child that the woman he obsessed with and the King he had tried to murder both adored.

Probably more than she'd like.

"I don't know you." Mal shook her head, "I really don't think you recognize me."

"I swear if you don't let her go I will kick your ass." Hadie growled the words, glaring at Gaston, and the grip on her chin really was painful now, she didn't like this at all it felt horrible.

Gaston glanced at Hadie, "You're Hades' brat aren't you? You dad's real pissed with you. Gonna kill you when he gets his hands on you-"

"I'm real scared." Hadie rolled his eyes, "I'm quaking in my boots, if you don't let go of her I'm and gonna-"

"Sure punk." Gaston snorted and rolled his eyes, lashing out and punching Hadie in the face, sending the younger boy flying. And Mal felt a fiery hot wave of anger at that, and it pierced through the fear.

"Don't touch him!" she brought her knee up between his legs-and that really was a useful move, and at the same time Dude lunged, leaping into the air and catching Gaston's arm hard, biting, and Gaston yelled in a mix of shock and pain, his grip on Mal's face releasing even as Dizzy sprinted to Hadie's side and helped him to his feet.

"Run!" the girls voice was frantic as they took off, and Mal managed to catch Dude when he went flying through the air from Gaston shaking him off, clutching him close as they sprinted away, Gaston clutching his bloody arm and yelling after them.

This day was just not going Mal's way at all.

As soon as they were far enough away that the yelling had faded they stopped, Hadie grimacing as he pressed his fingers to his eye, which was already starting to swell, "This is the third time." he grumbled "The third time we've had to run for our lives since I've met you. In one day as well! That has to be some sort of record."

"It's not like I planned on it!" Mal protested, "It's not my fault that Hades woke up or that Shrimpy wouldn't let me go or that we ran into Gaston now is it?"

"Well technically-" Hadie began, though Dizzy elbowed him hard in the side to get him to shut up.

"Is Dude okay?" the girls voice was concerned and Mal looked down at the dog in her arms, grimacing at the sight of the blood staining his fur.

"Hey boy... .you okay?" she shifted her grip on him, scratching his head, and Dude let out a bark-and he didn't sound like he was in pain at least, that was something. "I think he's gonna be okay I caught him."

"That's good." Hadie grimaced, "I'm gonna have a black eye after this-"

"I'm sorry Hadie-"

"Nah, it's not your fault." Hadie prodded the swelling area around his eye, "Can we just hurry up and get the dog to lead us to Carlos already?"

"Yeah, yeah that sounds like a good idea."


	15. Reunions

Dude led the group of three to the VK's old hideout, and Mal's eyes narrowed slightly, "Well that should have been obvious." she muttered under her breath.

"Probably." Dizzy picked up a rock and hurled it at the sign, which swung back and let the door to the steps open.

Hadie grinned, "I know you told me about it but it is so much cooler than it sounded when you told me."

"C'mon." Mal wrapped an arm around his shoulder, "Let's go and see if it's just Carlos or if it's everyone."

"I hope Evie's there." Dizzy grinned, "I really missed her-"

"Dizzy you're coming to Auradon with me." Mal pointed out, "Either way you're gonna see her pretty soon anyway."

"I know! But it's been like, forever." Dizzy smiled brightly, "She was like a big sister to me."

"I know she'll be glad to see you either way." Mal stated firmly as she started up the steps, pulling Hadie behind her, with Dizzy behind him.  
As they made their way up, Dude stood by Mal's feet, they could hear voices, familiar voices that made Mal smile brightly as she paused to listen.

"-Don't know what to do okay?" Ben's voice was worried, stressed, "I don't know where else to look for her. I don't know if we should try and go to Uma and find out why she targeted Dizzy's place... if it's connected to Mal or what-"

"We all agreed that Mal would probably go to Dizzy to change her hair." that was Evie, "So she was probably at least there but no one knows where Dizzy is Carlos and I asked around."

"And no one's seen a purple haired girl running around." Carlos added, "So she must have changed her hair-"

"That or she's hiding out somewhere." Jay pointed out, "If she pissed off Uma's crew somehow she's probably hiding out with Dizzy-"

"We don't even know that she made it to Dizzy." Evie's voice was stressed, "We have no idea where she is or what she was looking for and Dizzy is missing too. I was looking forward to seeing her again."

"I know." Ben's voice was almost a groan, "We are so screwed. I really don't want to go marching up to Uma and asking where she is because Uma's gonna be pissed at us for-"

"Being smart enough to make the call that let us stay in a place where we don't eat flies?" Jay's voice was sarcastic, "Yeah they're totally justified in being pissed."

"To them we're traitors we turned our backs on evil." that was Carlos, "They'll be pissed at us being here but Mal?"

"If they find out Mal is here it's gonna be bad." Ben agreed, "God what was she thinking? She doesn't know the Isle. She's probably in trouble somewhere and she doesn't have magic to help her fi-"

"Hey!" Mal practically flew up the last steps, dragging a protesting Hadie and Dizzy with her, Dude barking, "I feel the need to point out that I am a perfectly capable fighter thank you very mu-"

She was cut off mid word by Ben almost flying towards her, pulling her into a tight hug, and she could feel him shaking and okay, okay that made her feel kind of guilty actually.

"What the hell Mal?"

"I didn't think you'd find out yet." Mal mumbled, and she could hear Evie and Dizzy squealing and hugging, and she could see Hadie out of the corner of her eye looking very awkward.

"You-" Ben pulled back, gaping at her, "That's your excuse, you didn't think we'd find out yet?"

"In my defense I was in a rush." Mal flushed slightly, "I had another one of those dreams and... it told me to come to the Isle so-"

"So you rushed off without telling anyone." Jay raised an eyebrow, "That wasn't smart-"

"I had to. The dream told me I needed to go quick and I didn't have the time to go get you guys from the camp."

"And what about me?" that came from Evie, who was almost smothering Dizzy in a hug, "You could have told me."

"I... I knew you didn't want to come back here." Mal's voice was soft and her smile sad, "I didn't want to be the reason you came back... speaking of why are you all here how did you find out. Audrey swore she'd cover for me-"

"Yeah and your mom and dad are not happy about that by the way." Carlos picked up Dude, "Did Dude find you?"

"Yeah, he came and found me, I saw him and I knew you guys must be here, he led us to you." Mal paused, "So, you were gonna tell me how you found out I ran off."

"The scepter disappeared." Ben's voice was serious, "I don't know if you know but-"

"I knew it was fake." Mal nodded, "The dream told me."

"And that sounds weird as hell but my mom is currently a tiny lizard so let's go with it." Ben snorted, "Anyway, it disappeared and when they couldn't contact you the museum contacted your mom and dad who tried and they told Audrey what was wrong-"

"And Audrey told them the truth because it was an emergency and they got you." Mal nodded, "and you guys figured out somehow that I was going to the Isle."

"It was the only thing that made sense." Carlos shrugged, "The only reason you'd hide it from your parents and not tell Evie."

"I'm sorry I scared you guys." Mal gave a faint smile, "But I'd like to state for the record that I don't need saving-"

"Yeah, we've had everything handled just fine." Hadie drawled sarcastically, which drew everyone's attention to him.

"Uh, Mal who's-"

"I'm Hadie." the boy interrupted Jay's question, "Son of Hades, hence the hair."

"Right." Ben nodded slowly, "Uh, what exactly have you been getting up to and why does he look like he'd been punched-"

"Well I wouldn't call it punched." Hadie shrugged, "I was just in the way of Gaston's fist-"

"Gaston?" Ben nearly yelled the name, "Mal-"

"It's fine!"

"Fine?" Carlos looked shocked, "Mal if you've had a run in with Gaston-"

"He didn't recognize me-not really. He thought I looked familiar, and we got away fine."

"Yeah, Mal kicked him in the balls and Dude bit him."

"Yeah, that." Mal nodded, "Hadie tried to push him away from me and Gaston knocked him away."

"I-" Ben blinked rapidly, "This is insane all of this is insane Mal. Do you even know what you're looking for here do-"

"Actually I do." Mal interrupted, "I know a lot more than you guys right now. It's Leah."

"What?" Evie froze, "You saw her off yourself Mal she-"

"The guys who dropped her off were either being bribed or under a spell."

"Yeah." Hadie nodded, "Celia-a friend, told me her dad saw them shoving a mannequin out of the car-"

"I thought I saw them dumping Leah but I was wrong." Mal gave a tight smile "She's still in Auradon and she has Maleficent's Sceptre."

"Oh that is bad." Evie breathed out, "That is really really bad."

"It is." Mal nodded, "But it's not the end of the world-"

"Are you kidding?" Jay frowned "She was bad enough when she grabbed the wand if she has the sceptre-"

"She might have the scepter but I have Hades Ember." Mal interrupted swiftly, pulling it out of her pocket and holding it up to show them. "This is what Maleficent was talking about when she told Ben that there was only one thing more powerful than her scepter. Hades Ember."

"How did you get that?" Ben breathed the words out slowly and Dizzy grinned.

"We stole it."

"You-" Jay blinked, "You stole from Hades?" he raised an eyebrow "Do you have a deathwish or something?"

"Nah-"

"Yes." Dizzy and Hadie said that at the same time, and Mal shot them both a dirty look.

"Dizzy! I'd expect that kind of thing from Hadie but you-"

"Mal, what you did to-"

"And let's not talk about that." Mal interrupted, putting on an innocent look.

Ben groaned, "Why do I feel like you did something insane?"

"Uh I am offended that you'd even consider that a possibility I am totally innocent." Mal pressed her hand to her heart, "I have done nothing wrong-"

"Shrimpy." Dizzy giggled and Mal couldn't stop herself from laughing.

"Certifiably insane." Hadie muttered, "You are certifiably insane you know that-"

"Rude." Mal poked her tongue out at the younger boy.

"This.. I have so many questions." Ben shook his head, "But now probably isn't the time. If you have the Ember or whatever should we leave now?"

"We're taking Hadie and Dizzy with us by the way." Mal shrugged, "Hades is pissed at Hadie and there may be some people pissed at me for no good reason I am totally innocent"

"Shrimpy." Dizzy repeated before Mal could finish what she was saying. "Shrimpy shrimpy shrimpy-"

"I am only slightly guilty." Mal amended, "And from this moment on you two." she pointed at Dizzy and Hadie, "Aren't allowed to say another word about anything that's happened today."

"But Mal-" Dizzy pouted and Hadie spoke at the same time.

"You're no fun."

"Hush!" Mal pointed at them both, "We never speak of any of this again."

And she pretended not to hear Evie whisper, "You'll tell me later right?"

Or Dizzy's whispered, "Yeah."


	16. Running into trouble

Once the fact that Mal was most definitely not telling her friends exactly what had happened before they'd been reunited they all decided to head back out back to the limo-which Ben and the others had hidden on the edge of the Isle.

It'd be a fairly long walk back but they'd keep their heads down as much as they could and they'd have to hope that no one that would recognize them. It was also agreed that Mal, Dizzy and Hadie would be be in the middle of the group, with Ben and Jay up front and Evie and Carlos behind them to try and shield them from view as much as they could-it wasn't exactly ideal but it was definitely better than the alternative.

So they walked clumped together, Mal with an arm around Dizzy and Hadie's shoulders, casting a worried eye around as they walked, and it did seem to be going well at first it really did, until Uma, Harry, Gil and a few members of of her crew went rushing past the mouth of the alley the seven of them were walking through, clearly searching the Isle for Mal and Dizzy.

And it might have been fine, just maybe, if it hadn't been for the fact that Gil was looking around as they moved past and he skidded to a halt, a large grin stretching across his face as he called out, "Uma it's Braeden!" and a moment later the mouth of the alley was blocked off by Uma and her crew and Evie and Carlos were both shoving Mal, Dizzy and Hadie behind them so that the four older Isle kids were stood in a row-and it reminded Mal of the way they'd stood in front of Audrey at Mal's Coronation, a united front defending her.

Except now Mal was the one they felt the need to defend.

"Well well." Uma's voice was almost a purr, "If it isn't the traitors. I gotta say I wasn't expecting you four to be dumb enough to come back here."

"What can I say." Ben's voice was light, mocking, "We just missed you so much, wanted to make sure you weren't making too much of a mess of the place."

"We can handle it just fine traitor." that was Harry's voice, and Ben laughed.

"Says the one with the black eyes and the crooked nose, what did you get into a fight with a ten year old?"

"Minor territory dispute." Harry's voice was flippant, "The guy was twice the size of me-" that made Mal have to press a hand to her mouth to stop the snort that wanted to burst out.

"Not important." Uma snapped, "So Braeden, what are you really doing here? Got tired of your pretty Princess who probably cries when she chips a nail and Boreadon?"

"She's a Queen actually." Ben shot back smoothly, "Not a Princess-you probably saw her Coronation-why do you care, are you jealous Uma?"

"No." Gil spoke up, "She's so over you, if that girl earlier hadn't dumped a-"

"GIL!" Uma shouted the name, "If you don't keep your mouth shut I'm gonna get Harry to use his hook on you-"

"Oh?" Jay sounded amused, "What happened, get into a turf war with someone who you shouldn't-"

"Nothing that we won't get payback for." Uma snarled, "Once we catch those little..." she trailed off growling.

"Ooh." Ben's voice was mocking, "Don't think anyone other than us has ever pissed you off this much Uma.

"Shut it traitor." Harry snapped, "You don't know what happened-"

"It was one of the adults." Uma lied, and Mal did snort at that, she couldn't help herself, desperately stuffing her fist into her mouth to try and muffle her laughter, not that it did that much good.

"Who's that?" Gil sounded curious, "Someone's behind you."

"Yeah Braeden?" Uma's voice was suddenly accusing, "Who's that?"

"No one-" then Ben froze "Wait-" suddenly Ben's voice was gleeful. "It wasn't an adult was it?" he asked, "Oh my god." and Mal could almost picture that grin on his lips, "Oh my god, let me guess, the girl who screwed with both of you was yay high'" he held up his hand to Mal's height, and she could hear Jay's sharp intake of breath and the way Carlos started to snicker.

"Oh my god." Evie covered her mouth with her hand, "What happened Uma?"

"We do not speak of it, remember." Ben snickered, "Oh god it must have been bad to annoy you so much Uma-"

"You know the Lorrie girl who stole Harry's hook then." Gil grinned, despite the face that Harry hit him over the head, and Ben was silent for a moment before he started to cackle with laughed.

"Oh my god I should have known I should have known. Please, please tell me she's the one who broke your nose."

"You know her?" Uma's voice was a growl, and Ben let out a louder laugh before spinning around and yanking Mal into a kiss, and Mal laughed brightly as she draped her arms over Ben's shoulders and kissed back.

When Ben did pull back he was grinning. "I have never been more attracted to anyone in my entire life."

"What the-" Harry was gaping in shock, and Uma looked like she's been slapped.

"But I thought you were dating that Queen." Gil's voice was so bewildered that it made Mal laugh even harder.

"Oh my god." Uma's mouth dropped open, "No. No way."

"What was that you said?" Mal gave a sly smirk as she peered at Uma from over Ben's shoulder, "I'd probably cry if I'd chip a nail?"

"You're the Queen?" Harry's voice was stunned, "But you-"

"Kicked your ass?" Mal asked innocently, "Yeah see I'm not some helpless little damsel in distress."

"Oh we've already experienced that." Harry bared his teeth at her, "I'm going to enjoy making you squirm-"

"So we know what she did to piss off Harry." Jay spoke up looking highly amused, "But what did she do to piss you off so much Uma?"

"She was trying to insist that I join her crew, I tried to politely decline as befits a Queen." Mal said innocently, and Hadie snorted.

"And then she threw a bucket of shrimp over Uma."

"And as we were running out I called Uma Shrimpy? Though really I am flattered-from what Gil was saying you were about ready to make out with me but I'm happily taken."

"I am gonna make you regret ever being born." Uma snarled the words-though they weren't that effective considering the fact that Mal, Ben, Carlos, Jay and Hadie were laughing loudly and Evie and Dizzy were giggling.

"Sure, sure." Mal nodded, "I'm sure you will Shrimpy, but see, there's like, five of you and seven of us and I've already kicked Harry's ass once today and dumped a bucket of shrimp over your head do you really want to be humiliated again?"

"You got lucky." Harry snapped, "You won't again Prince-"

"Queen, it's Queen." Mal said in a sing song voice, "You might not always be able to tell the difference, y'know, being a moron-"

"Don't you dare." Uma snarled, "You high and mighty little bitch, looking down on us like you're better than us. You lot locked us up and give us your trash and you think you're such wonderful people." and though Mal didn't show it that hit deep in a way she wasn't ready to admit because Uma wasn't really wrong. "You think you're so generous, bringing those little traitors over to your blessed kingdom as if that makes anything right, choosing four kids and leaving everyone else behind." and the anger in Uma's voice was justified, Mal knew.

The idea of the Isle hadn't originally been what it became, it had been a necessity. But when Villains started having kids things should have changed.. and people like Leah and Chi-Fu had done everything they could to make sure that the Isle had few supplies and mostly just got Auradon's trash. Mal was doing what she could but she wasn't doing enough. Kids were still starving.

She couldn't blame Uma and the other kids of the Isle who were filled with anger and resentment and that hurt more than anything else Uma could have thrown at her.

"There's more, I'm working towards picking more-"

"Yeah, yeah just pick and choose." Uma sneered, "Let me guess, Gil and his brothers never crossed your mind right?" and that made Mal flinch slightly. "You think you're so great because you were raised in a castle wit everything you wanted but you look down on kids because of who their parents are. Like you're any better your mom is Maleficent-"

"No she's not!" Mal snapped, "She might have birthed me but-"

"You have her blood-and I don't even know who elses-dunno who'd be nasty enough to wanna sleep with her-"

"Stop it." Ben stepped forward, "That's not fair. Mal isn't responsible for the Isle do you have even the slightest idea how hard she's been working to fix things?"

"I don't care." Uma snarled, "It's false gestures and empty promises she's just like all the other Auradon scum."

"I-" Mal couldn't hide the pain she felt at that. The words were more effective than any physical blow. "Uma I-"

"Ignore her." Ben's arms around her were more protective now as he glared at Uma.

"Ben's right." Jay's voice was sharp, "She doesn't get to judge you she doesn't even know you."

"If you say anything else." Hadie spoke up, stepping forward, "I am gonna kick your ass."

"Are you kidding squirt?" Harry sneered at Hadie, "You-"

"You don't say another word about her."

"Aren't you Hades' brat?" Uma snapped, "I'd run along kid, before daddy finds you. He's pissed with you."

"I'm not going anywhere." Hadie glowered, "And you're not saying another word about her, she's a nicer person than any of you."

"Hadie's right." Dizzy stepped forward, glaring fiercely-or as fiercely as she could it didn't come easily for her-and Mal found herself smiling very faintly. Maybe she hadn't made things right yet but Hadie and Dizzy believed in her, and so did her friends and that meant everything. But that didn't erase the ever very real danger of the situation. If anything the kids presence made the matter a thousand times worse, and she swallowed hard.

If this went down badly then someone was bound to get hurt, and Mal didn't know if she could live with herself if it was Hadie or Dizzy.


	17. Captured

"We don't want to fight." Evie spoke up, breaking the tense silence, "We don't want to fight with you Uma okay we really really don't."

"Seems like you don't get a choice." Uma's voice was almost mocking, "See the little Queen really shouldn't have come here. I mean, if we have her just think of what we can do, or get others to do for us."

"You're not touching her." Ben snarled the words, pushing Mal behind him.

"Uh huh." and Uma was smirking as she drew a literal sword, "See, you guys aren't the ones with weapons here."

"Give us the little Queenie and we won't hurt you too bad." Harry leered, "You know you can't beat us." and the rest of the little crew drew swords too. That was very very not good.

"We don't have to fight!" Mal had faith in her friends she did, but she didn't want to fight a bunch of pirates with swords it wasn't going to end well. Besides she'd been raised to use words to sort out disputes as often as possible. Fighting was never something a Queen should want-even if Mal did occasionally enjoy the thrill of it as she had earlier. "Please Uma, we can find a way to sort this out peacefully I can-"

"This coming from the girl who dumped a bucket of shrimp on me and called me Shrimpy!" Uma glared, and Mal desperately tried to smother the urge to giggle, though Dizzy and Hadie didn't even try, which just made Uma even angrier. "Crew. Get the Queen." and then Uma's crew were rushing at them, and yes it was seven against six, but two of the seven were younger, and none of the seven had swords.

Mal found herself being shoved backwards by Ben, "Run away. Take Dizzy and Hadie and run."

"But-"

"Mal if they get you they can demand anything and they know it." Ben's voice was terrified as he grabbed Mal's shoulder and squeezed, "Run Mal."

And so she span around, grabbing Dizzy and Hadie's arms and taking off into a run, out of the end of the alley they had originally walked down and into the street before ducking into another alley, heart pounding in her chest as they fled, the sounds of fighting echoing in her ears as she desperately tried to get the two younger kids away.

Damn it if only her friends hadn't come this wouldn't be happening. They were in danger now because of her.

They ducked down yet another alley, sprinting through it only for the little light that came in through the entrance to be blocked by two figures, and Mal, Hadie and Dizzy ran straight into them, Harry Hook's arms wrapping around Mal before she could even react, a hand over her mouth.

"No!" Hadie and Dizzy were both grabbed by Gil, tossed sideways by the stronger teen, who grinned.

"Uma's gonna be pleased with us."

"That she is." Harry smirked as Mal struggled in his grip, "Looks like we caught us a little Queen, this time your highness, you're not gonna be the winner." he hissed that into her ear, "You're gonna do exactly what we tell you do or you're gonna have to deal with Uma, and she'll probably make you swim with the sharks." that made Mal panic more-oh she was well aware that there probably meant sharks but that implied they'd toss her into water and-well, she couldn't swim, and god she was gonna learn no matter what when she made it out of this mess. Drowning was a terrifying feeling and she had no intentions of experiencing it a second time.

"Let her go!" Dizzy cried out from where she was struggling to stand, leaning against the wall, and Hadie was staggering to his feet too.

"Don't hurt her-"

"Oh don't you worry." Harry smirked nastily, "She's a valuable hostage is our little Queenie."

Mal snarled at him, though the noise was muffled by his hand, struggling as much as she could with the way he was holding her.

"Gil, knock her out." Harry ordered, smirking, and Mal's struggles became more frantic as Gil moved closer, a terrified look on her face as she screamed into Harry's hand, managing to bite down hard-which made Harry snarl in paid, and then he was releasing her arms for just a second but she couldn't even try and make a break for it because less than a second later she felt something smooth, curved and metal hitting the side of her head and she was slumping, the darkness swam in her vision.

She just had time to watch Hadie manage to stagger to his feet and lunge at Gil and Harry before she was completely unconscious, her body crumpling into Harry's waiting arms.

~~~

By the time Ben, Evie, Jay and Carlos managed to find Hadie and Dizzy the two younger kids were already up and stumbling out of the alley, clinging to each other, Dizzy openly crying and Hadie looking downright murderous, the latter with his arm pressed tight to his chest and bleeding.

Evie was the first to rush to them, pale faced and somewhat bruised-all of them were bruised actually, Jay had a split lip and eyebrow, Carlos had what would definitely become a black eye, and Ben had a cut across his cheek from Uma's sword.

"What happened?" Evie's voice was worried as she reached the kids, "Where's Mal are you okay?"

"They got her." That was Hadie, his voice angry.. and a touch guilty too. "They got Mal. I'm sorry we were running but they cut us off-"

"We ran right into them Mal didn't even get a chance to fight." Dizzy shook her head, "This is our fault we should have-"

"No." Carlos shook his head, "No it's not your fault you two it's not. We're gonna get her out of this-"

"We have to." that was Hadie, "We've gotta get her free we have to she's the best thing to ever happen to the Isle she's trying to help us-"

"Hadie breath." Jay grabbed the younger boys shoulder, "Breath we're gonna figure this out-"

"I'll kill them." Ben's voice was sharp, "If they hurt her I'm going to kill them."

"What do we do?" Dizzy's voice shook and she leaned into Evie as the older girl hugged her.

"We go and get her-"

"Ben stop." Jay grabbed Ben's arm when the other boy turned to storm off, "You can't."

"Like hell I can't!" Ben tried to yank his arm free, "They have Mal Jay, they have her. They have my girlfriend and you're telling me I can't-"

"Uma will have taken her to the Lost Revenge she'll make us sweat for a few hours and then she'll make demands." Carlos shook his head, "Barging in there now and we'll be outnumbered and she'll hurt Mal to prove a point to us. Maybe if we had more people it'd be safe but we can't. We have to wait for her to send her demands."

"You want me to wait while Harry and Uma have Mal? And Gil? He might not be as bad as them but he's just like most of us wanting to make our parents proud and Mal is the daughter of Belle and Adam you think they're gonna be nice to her while they're making us wait and sweat?"

"No, no I don't but I'd rather they didn't hurt her because we rushed in like idiots. Ben we're all worried." Carlos shook his head, "Mal's our friend as well as your girlfriend we care about her too."

"We're gonna get her back." Evie's voice was soft, "But Carlos is right Ben. We need to find out what she wants first."

"It sucks." Jay admitted, "Like, it really sucks more than anything ever, but we should go back to the hide out and wait for a messenger."

"We can't!" Hadie burst out, "You can't seriously be talking about leaving her with Uma and her crew! She humiliated them they're gonna hurt her."

"Hadie calm down." Jay grabbed the boys shoulder gently, "We're gonna save her but rushing in isn't how we do it okay we need to be smart, it's not like there's anyone on the Isle we can ask to help us, no one that'd be able to scare Uma into giving her back anyway."

"This isn't right-"

"I hate it too." Ben's shoulders had slumped, "I really hate it but I think that they're right Hadie. Believe me I would much rather say that I had some great idea we could use to storm in and rescue her but I don't."

"Wait." Hadie froze, eyes narrowing as he thought for a moment before he straightened up, "I think I might have an idea. You said about having someone to scare Uma into giving her back right-"

"I said we don't have anyone who can scare her into giving Mal back." Jay corrected, "If we had one of the adults on our side then maybe they could scare Uma enough but we don't so we're screwed-"

"No we're not." Hadie took a deep breath, a determined glint in his eyes, "Because my dad is the scariest guy on the whole Isle. If he wanted to the Isle would be his but he's never wanted to. No way is Uma and her crew gonna risk pissing him off."

"Uh... I mean they wouldn't but isn't your dad-"

"Currently searching the Isle for me because we stole his Ember?" Hadie raised an eyebrow, "Now I wonder what he'd do if I told him that Mal is the only one who knows where it is and that Uma and her crew have her."

"I.." Ben hesitated, "It could work." he said carefully, "It's really risky but it could just possibly work."

"Good." Hadie took a deep breath, "I guess it's time for us to find my dad then."


	18. Reasons not to annoy pirates

When Mal woke it was slow and painful. Her head was aching something terrible, which did make sense when the memories flooded back. It must have been the hook that Harry hit her with, she'd probably have quite the lump there after a blow like that.

She didn't open her eyes. She could hear people moving around her, and she was propped up against something, it felt curved against her back so maybe a pole or something. She was tied to it she could feel that much, her wrists bound in front of her and ropes wrapping around her upper body tying her to whatever it was. Not a nice feeling at all. And a little wriggle of her feet told her her legs were tied up too.

Eventually she decided it was probably best to open her eyes and see what was going on around her, so she opened them slowly, turning her head very slightly to try and see what was going on around her without being noticed. She could feel a slight rocking that she realized when she did open her eyes meant she was on a boat and she grimaced slightly. Wonderful that meant lots of water all around her, just what she hated. She closed her eyes, taking a slow deep breath to calm herself, counting to ten in her head before she opened her eyes-and she stifled a scream because leaning over her peering at her curiously was Gil.

She jerked backwards, head hitting the wooden post she was tied too, and she hissed in pain, pressing herself back against the mast-because that was what it was she was pretty sure.

"You're awake." Gil grinned, "Uma'll be glad she was worried Harry hit you too hard."

"Ugh." Mal groaned, "Wonderful. I don't suppose that you'll be willing to untie me?"

Gil laughed at that, "No." he tilted his head looking curious, "Dad says your mom was real pretty. Guess you got that from her-"

"Yeah that's not how it works." Mal gave Gil an annoyed look, "I was adopted-"

"Oh! Yeah I forgot you were 'sposed to be one of us and Braeden was 'sposed to be one of you-"

"Uh huh." Mal shifted as much as she could, "Could you at least untie my wrists they're starting to go numb, you don't want to hurt me right-"

"Don't even think about it Gil." The voice came from behind Mal and she winced. Ah crap. Uma knew she was awake now that couldn't be good.

Mal turned her head as Uma walked around from behind her, smirking as she crouched down so they were on the same level, "Sleep well Princ-"

"Queen." Mal interrupted "If you're gonna try and mock me with my title at least get it right." she took a deep breath, "Listen I'm not gonna try and run." that was a lie, she would definitely try and run. "Can you please just untie my wrists my hands are going numb."

"Awe, are you slightly uncomfortable?" Uma mocked her, "Do you want a foot rub and a massage as well-"

"I'm not being unreasonable! You have me tied to a post my wrists being free doesn't mean I'll be able to break free and run away!"

"Listen Queenie." Uma leaned closer, "This is my ship, and while you're on my ship we do things my way." she tapped Mal's cheek, "Or I'll let Harry have some fun, he's still annoyed about your first meeting."

"So hitting me with his stupid hook wasn't revenge enough?"

"Not even slightly. Lucky for you I don't want to damage the goods too much."

"Or you could just not damage me at all." Mal suggested, "What do you think's gonna happen?"

"I think that we're gonna leave your little friends to sweat for a few hours, and then I'll send someone to tell them my terms for releasing you."

"And what will they be."

"Oh I don't know, I haven't decided yet." Uma leaned closer, "You're gonna be our ticket out of here I know that."

"Yeah see I don't think that's gonna work that well. You just kidnapped me do you really think I'm just gonna let you wander around in Auradon if you do things like that? If you untie me we can talk."

"Uh huh, sure we can." Uma snorted, "And you'll try and run away I'm not stupid your highness."

"Really I am surprised." Mal closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, "Your lackey hit me too hard I feel sick." well that wasn't a lie she did feel kinda sick.

"Tough luck." Uma tilted her head, "But you know what I think we will let you stand a second." she turned her head, "Harry! Get your ass over here."

"Coming Uma." and Mal groaned to herself when she turned her head and saw Harry swaggering over to them, a smug smirk on his face, "Our Queen's awake then."

"Yeah." Uma nodded, "Cut the restraints." as she spoke she grabbed Mal's wrists, yanking her arms forward quickly and slicing them using a knife, and Mal yanked her hands back quickly, rubbing her wrists over the red marks from the ropes.

"Thank you." she flinched as Harry leaned in close, but the ropes tying her to the mast were sliced away quickly and she swallowed hard "I don't suppose you'll untie the ropes around my ankles?"

"Yeah not a chance." Uma snorted, "You're lucky we've untied you this much."

"What are you gonna do now."

"You're gonna sit there without moving and we're gonna have a nice little talk before we let you stand up and tie you up again, and if you do try and move Harry will get to hook you."

"And I'll enjoy it." Harry smirked, brandishing his hook at her. "So I'd be as still as you can be Queenie-"

"Enough Harry." Uma smirked, "C'mon now, the Queen knows better than to try anything don't you?"

"Of course." for not at least, if she got the chance she was definitely going to try and make a break for it. "I don't want to die-"

"Good, because if you try anything we'll toss you overboard." and Mal couldn't hide her involuntary flinch at that, and Uma raised an eyebrow at that,

"Oh... now that's interesting. Are you like Braeden, can you not swim?"

Mal swallowed hard, "Of course I can swim." the lie was weak, and Uma's smirk became nastier, "Harry grab her arms to make sure she won't run."

"What-" Uma sliced the ropes around Mal's ankles as Harry grabbed Mal's arm, and then they were dragging her to her feet, Uma looking unbearably smug as she grabbed the arm Harry wasn't holding, "The plank Harry."

"What?" Mal tried to hide the panic in her voice, what-"

"We're giving you a chance to escape, we're nice like that aren't we Harry."

"We are." Harry was smirking as together they dragged Mal across the deck of the ship, Mal stumbling and desperately trying to force away her panic as she started to try and pull herself free.

"Giving me a chance to escape?" and then they were by the plank and Mal desperately forced down her panic as they started to push her onto it.

"That's right your highness, you jump off the plank and we'll let you swim away to freedom." Uma offered.

"I.." Mal swallowed hard, desperately as she twisted and struggled, "You're being crazy stop it-" The palm of Uma's hand hit Mal's cheek hard.

"Stop struggling."

"No you-"

This time it was Harry who lashed out, his hook suddenly digging into her cheek and slicing the skin. "You heard her Queenie."

"I-stop it! Please!" But Mal's pleas went unheeded and a moment later she was forced up onto the plank and suddenly she was trying to keep her balance on the wide plank of wood, at least it was semi stable, it wasn't too wobbly-at least she thought that until Harry gave her shoulder a push and she stumbled forward, towards the edge.

"What, need some help?" Harry's voice was mocking as he hopped up onto the plank behind her, grabbing the back of her jacket and pushing her slightly.

She let out a panicked yell at that, flailing desperately, but Harry was right behind her and she couldn't move backwards as he pushed her forward, until his grip on her jacket was the only thing stopping her from falling.

"Stop!" Mal's voice was almost frantic, "Stop let me go!"

"Okay." Uma laughed, "Harry, you heard her."

"Of course Uma." Harry released his grip on Mal and she toppled forward, screaming as she desperately tried to pull herself back in time as she fell off the plank.

She managed to catch the edge of it as she fell, letting out a pained gasp at the force of the impact on her arm and she clung to it desperately, shaking violently, unable to stop the terrified tears that poured down her cheeks, "Stop it! Stop it please." she flinched when Harry crouched above her.

"Well would'ya look at that." and there were more footsteps and each impact against the plank made it tremble slightly, and then Uma was crouching above her next to Harry.

"Oh, what's wrong your highness?" Uma asked sweetly, "I thought you said you could swim-do you need a bit of help?" she grabbed Mal's arm tightly,  
"Just a little push and you'll be in the water would you like that?"

"No!" Mal let out a sob, hating herself for being so weak as she shook her head, "Please Uma stop it please please let me up."

"Should we Harry?"

"I don't know Uma." Harry smirked as he reached out with his hook, using it to force Mal to lift her chin, "We should give her a chance to escape like you said, after all if she can swim-"

"I can't!" Mal screamed the words, "Please please I can't swim I can't swim help me up please please I'll drown if I fall please-"

"Oh? Well that's odd you said you could swim." Uma was looking very smug as she pushed Mal's arm slightly and Mal screamed again as she felt herself slipping.

If she was being rational she'd have realized that they wouldn't let their hostage down, but she was hanging over water which looked very deep and while she was okay with dipping her feet in the Enchanted lake she sure as hell wasn't okay with deep water which she was about to fall into.

And this time she wasn't in Auradon, she didn't have Ben to drag her out despite his own fear, or Lonnie to dive in after her and hold her afloat until more help came.

No if she fell into the water she knew one thing for sure.

She'd drown.


	19. Fear

Uma and Harry both let Mal hang for several minutes while she became more and more terrified and frantic, mocking her tears and screaming before, just as Mal's grip fully slipped and she started to fall while Uma's crew all laughed at her terror.

Only then did Uma nod at Harry, who smirked and grabbed Mal's jacket, using it to haul her up, using his hook to catch one of her flailing arms, the point slicing through her jacket and catching her wrist, slicing the skin for the second time, and she grabbed at his arms desperately ignoring the pain, sobbing and gasping frantically for air, clinging to Harry, terrified that they'd push her over if she didn't hold onto something.

"Bring her back on deck." Uma ordered.

"Aye Captain." Harry half carried half dragged Mal off the plank, following Uma back onto the deck, "Where should I dump the Queen then?"

"Back by the mast." Uma ordered, "I don't think our Queen is gonna put up a fight now." she laughed nastily as they moved back to the mast and she was shoved back down to the wooden deck her back against the mast, still shaking violently as her hands were forced backwards and tied behind the mast so that if she tried to move forward and escape she'd probably break them both.

"They ya go." Harry smirked at her, "All tied up again after a nice little walk-"

"Go." Uma ordered smoothly, "I wanna talk to her alone."

Harry looked disappointed at that, but he followed Uma's orders, moving away and leaving Mal and Uma in semi privacy, Uma looking at Mal almost curiously.

"Gotta say I didn't expect it to be that easy to make you crack."

"Leave me alone." Mal looked away, shame filling her at Uma's words, because she wasn't even wrong was she Mal had broken down screaming in terror at the thought of being pushed into the water.

"Don't lie to me again." Uma's voice was cool, "Ever, or I might not get Harry to drag you back up." she paused, "What's your problem with water  
anyway, even Braeden wouldn't scream like that."

"I can't swim-"

"Neither can he-"

"If it really matters... when I was five I nearly drowned. I've been scared of drowning ever since."

"What happened? Queen Mommy and King Daddy not have their servants watching you play in your luxury pool." Uma mocked.

"No. My best friend-Aurora's daughter-" Uma laughed, "yeah I get the irony, her grandmother brought her her to my fifth birthday party. Guess she  
figured out who my bio mom was because as soon as the other adults left and she was left to supervise she grabbed me by my hair and dragged me to the water and threw me in. A five year old who couldn't swim." she saw Uma's eyes widen slightly "Yeah, the only reason I didn't drown was the fact that one of my friends could swim and she held me up into the water until my other friends screaming brought the rest of the adults-"

"Wait, that would be that Queen Leah who trashed your Coronation right?"

"Yes." Mal sighed, "In retrospect I shouldn't have let her come-"

"You agreed to let a woman who tried to murder you come to your Coronation?" Uma was looking at Mal as if she was insane, "Do-do you have something wrong with your brain what the hell?"

"I was giving second chances and she wrote a letter begging for forgiveness." Mal defended weakly, face flushing, "In retrospect it was not my best idea."

"You don't say."

"Anyway, that and the fact that I nearly drowned on my first date with Ben-"

"What?" Uma raised an eyebrow, "Okay you nearly drowned on your first date with Braeden-"

"His name is Ben-"

"And I'm still calling him Braeden. Got a problem with that?" Uma raised an eyebrow, tapping the hilt of her currently sheathed sword, which made Mal roll her eyes slightly.

At least she'd calmed down somewhat from the terror of their tormenting her, ironically the talking was helping calm her, though her heart rate hadn't calmed yet.

"Not at all." Mal shifted slightly, grimacing, "Y'know this isn't exactly comfortable-"

"I don't care." Uma spoke over her, "Y'know I really didn't get why he'd choose some pretty little Auradon girl over-"

"You?" Mal raised an eyebrow, "I know you and him used to-I don't even know what the term for it would be but I know. I was kinda jealous at first."

Mal shrugged, "Just a tiny bit."

"Oooh little miss perfect admitting she was jealous of me." Uma smirked, "Now that's what I like to hear. Still I get what he sees in you now." Uma looked Mal up and down, "You're more than just a pretty face I'll admit that." Her eyes narrowed, "Though I'm still pissed about the shrimp." that made Mal's lips twitch into a faint smile.

"Well you were gonna force me to join your crew you didn't give me much choice."

"Still doesn't make me less pissed." Uma leaned back. "How did you and Ben even get together anyway?"

"Why do you care?" Mal raised an eyebrow, "Do you usually ask your hostages for their life story after threatening to throw them overboard.

"I'm curious." Uma leaned back, "Not often I get to talk to Royalty."

"He asked me out." Mal shifted slightly again. It might even be a good idea for her to talk to Uma, try and remind the girl that she was a person-hadn't she read that somewhere? If there was any good in Uma her best chance was reminding Uma that she wasn't that different. Other than being a Queen.. yeah this wouldn't be easy. "I said no at first." she hesitated, but... well a fair few people knew already-she could remember Audrey's reaction when she'd admitted why their date had been so awful-the girl had nearly murdered Ben. Mal and Evie had needed to hold the Princess back from murdering Mal's boyfriend.

"You said no? Now that's a surprise given the fact that you guys seem pretty cosy."

"It did not happen magically." Mal gave a wry smile, "Well, technically magic nearly screwed things up."

"Oh?"

"Yeah I guess you know about the plan-"

"Yeah it was pretty obvious what Maleficent ordered them to do when she showed up during your Coronation thinking it was him."

"He used a love spell on me." Mal admitted, "He put a love potion in a cookie and gave it to me." Uma's mouth dropped open in surprise and Mal kept talking, "We went on a date to the Enchanted lake, he refused to kiss me, so decided to dip my feet in the water to cool off because I was upset and the shock of the spell washing away from the lake water made me stumble and I went under."

"Oh wow." Uma laughed, "Bet that went over well."

"Like a lead balloon." Mal's lips twitched again, "He told me all about their plan the... it came close to ruining everything but... I had to give them the chance to prove themselves so I decided I'd let Ben be my date to Coronation-"

"You are crazy." Uma dead panned, "You are completely and totally insane aren't you?"

"That time I didn't regret it." Mal pointed out, "It turned out pretty good for me that time." she shifted. Maybe it would pay for her to take a risk again. "You know..." She swallowed hard, "You don't have to do this Uma. I am trying to help the kids of the Isle I don't... especially after seeing it myself, it takes time but I am trying. I could use someone like you to help-" and Uma's expression shifted instantly, darkening.

"And there you go ruining our nice moment." Uma almost drawled the words as she stood up, "I think I'll leave you to dwell on your fate-but you know what, first, revenge for the shrimp-and you're lucky I'm feeling nice. Harry watch the prisoner for a minute!"

"What-Uma wait!" Mal tugged at her restraints, wincing in pain, "Uma please!" she watched the girl walk off as Harry moved to crouch in front of Mal smirking.

"You should stop struggling Queenie you'll only hurt yourself." he tapped his hook against her face, "Poor thing, look at your pretty face all cut because of little old me."

"Ugh." Mal gave him a dirty look, "Tell me Harry do you really think all that guyliner makes you look good?"

"I think I look better than you." Harry leaned in close, "You're a mess Queenie, you're lucky the Captains such a generous person."

"Sure she is, y'know a real generous person would, oh I dunno, let me go?"

"Not happening." Harry grinned, tapping her cheek again, "Y'know it's really a shame that you chose Ben, you're a pretty little thing we could have had a lot of fun." he brushed his lips over her cheek, "We still could y'know, if you wanted."

Mal's lips thinned slightly as she pressed them together before she gave a fake smile, "Y'know maybe you're right." she tilted her head, "Can you let me look at you?"

Harry leaned back slightly, and Mal took a moment, sucking all of the moisture in her mouth before spitting, the glob of saliva hitting Harry in the eye.  
He reeled back snarling furiously, "Oh you shouldn't have done that." Harry was suddenly leaning in close, getting up in Mal's face, "You're going to regret ever being born Queenie I am gonna make you screa-" Mal jerked her head forward, smashing her forehead into Harry's chin, sending him toppling backwards, but he recovered quickly, gripping her chin tightly and yanking her face forward to force her to look him in the eye.

"You're going to regret ever being born Queenie."


	20. Frying pan fire

Mal probably shouldn't have spat or headbutted the pirate. She realized that when the wide curved metal of Harry's hook-and at least he didn't use the sharp bit and cut her face again-hit her cheek hard enough that she was pretty sure the inside of her cheek had gotten cut against her teeth.  
She let out a pained gasp, spitting out the blood that flooded her mouth quickly.

Of course he didn't stop-Harry was angry at her, he wanted to hurt her, and he was doing a good job as he grabbed her hair and tugged hard, yanking her forward-which had the added benefit-in his view at least, of straining her arms where they were tied up behind the mast, and she cried out in pain, "Not so tough are you now little Queenie, there's more where that-"

"Harry!" that was Uma's voice, and Harry turned his head, still pulling hard on Mal's hair. "Captain-"

"Did I tell you you could hit the hostage?"

"She spat at me and headbutted me." that made Uma raise an eyebrow, and Mal swallowed hard, glaring with as much defiance as she could muster.

"He had it coming."

"Harry go and cool off." Uma ordered sharply, "And you don't come near our hostage without me again I don't need you killing her before we can get what we want."

"Fine." Harry shot Mal a dirty look, "If you need me to make her behave let me know." he swaggered off and Mal shifted slightly, swallowing hard as her gaze focused on Uma.

"So, you gonna hit me now?"

"Nope." Uma was carrying a bucket Mal noticed, "You know, you really should learn to keep your mouth shut you just keep pissing people off-you know what." she put the bucket down so that Mal couldn't see what was in it before turning her head, "Gil! Your bandanna, I need it."

"What-you've gotta be kidding me-" but apparently not before a moment later Uma had the grubby cloth in her hands and she was shoving it into Mal's mouth and tying it behind her head, ignoring her muffled protests.

Once she was done Uma pulled back smirking, "Much better, you can't mouth off or try and manipulate people now. And now-" Uma moved to the bucket and picked it up again, "I'm gonna enjoy this.

Then Uma was tipping the bucket over her head and Mal shrieked into the cloth in her mouth as the icy cold water was poured over her. The leather jacket helped keep some of the water off, but it wasn't zipped up so even the waterproofed leather didn't act as much protection and Mal was left soaked through and shivering violently as she stared at Uma in shock.

"There. That's for the shrimp." Uma turned around and stalked away humming, clearly pleased with herself as Mal just sat shivering, and she was almost grateful for the water dripping off her hair because it meant that her tears weren't visible.

At least she was mostly left alone after that, though that wasn't exactly reassuring since she was half convinced she was going to freeze to death.  
She was cold and frightened and she had no idea how she was going to get out of this mess.

It also didn't help that she was only mostly left alone because a few members of the crew would take the chance to kick her legs when they walked past her.

She'd had to awkwardly shift and tuck her legs beneath her for some protection even if it wasn't much, and there was the fact that Uma seemed to have set Gil to watch her-probably chosen because she was almost as uncomfortable with Gaston's son watching her as she was with the idea of Harry watching her. Though at least Gil didn't seem to actually be cruel as such. In fact he was almost kind at one point, when he noticed how violently she was shivering he actually fetched an admittedly rather thin and ragged blanket which he draped over her, it didn't do much but it was more kindness than she'd been expecting after everything that had happened.

She'd been left like that for what felt like hours before something changed. It started with shocked cries from the docks and they snapped her out of the near sleep-if it could be called sleep-she was nearly passing out from exhaustion.

She lifted her head slightly, looking around nervously as Gil stood up from where he'd been sat keeping an eye on her, pointing at her quickly, "Stay here." and if Mal could speak she'd be demanding to know what he expected her to do while she was tied up. Unfortunately she was still gagged so all she could do was roll her eyes and glare as Gil pulled his sword out, and she could hear Uma's voice from behind her-she wished she could turn and see what was going on but she couldn't turn her head enough to get a good look.

"What the hell is going on?" the pirates voice was annoyed, "Is that-"

"Oh crap." Harry's voice was actually almost frightened, and that scared Mal more than anything else. Her friends would have been expected they wouldn't scare Harry like that. God was she about to get dragged into even more trouble?

"Well hi there." the voice was familiar-last time Mal had heard it it had been extremely angry at her. Crap she was probably more screwed than she had been, "I hear you have someone I've been looking for, so I'm taking her from you."

"You can't do that!" Uma's voice was offended, and Mal heard the stunned cry and the thud, heard Harry's bellow of rage and his pained cry that followed along with a crashing, and there were more yells and thuds and she could hear Hades approaching her despite the crews attempts to fight him.

She started to struggle frantically, crying out into the fabric in her mouth as Gil gripped his sword tightly, and then Hades came into view and before Gil could even swing at him he was knocking the sword from the boys had, picking him up and going to throw him overboard.

Mal screamed into the gag as Gil struggled in Hades grip, and Hades paused, letting out a long suffering sigh as he turned his head, still holding Gil in the air as the God looked at Mal, "Why are you screaming?" he went to throw Gil over the side again and she screamed louder this time and Hades groaned, tossing Gil onto the deck instead, the boy scrambling away quickly.

At least he wasn't dumb enough to try and fight a God, not that it helped Mal feel any better about the fact that the God she'd stolen from hours before now had her at his mercy, and he did not look impressed.

She let out a panicked noise as he moved around so that he was behind her, and then much to her surprise she felt the ropes tying her wrists slacken and her arms dropped to her sides, aching badly but free, though she couldn't even lift them they ached so much.

Then Hades was in front of her again, yanking the fabric from her mouth and down so that it was hanging loosely around her neck. "W-what-" her voice was shaking, "W-what's going on-"

"Shut up." Hades voice was annoyed, and then he was gripping the back of her jacket and hauling her to her feet, "You're coming with me kid. Dunno why you didn't want me to hurt the other brat-"

"He was kind to me."

Hades snorted, "Looked real kind, having you all tied up like that, now you're coming with me girl."

Mal wasn't sure if she should be relieved or terrified, but she stumbled along with him as he dragged her along, her legs shaky and numb from how she'd been sat on them trying to protect them from the frequent kicks she'd received while tied up at the pirates mercy.

After the third time of her stumbling Hades let out a groan, lifting her up and throwing her over his shoulder, which made her cry out loudly, "HEY!"

"Shut up." Hades growled, "Just shut up brat, think yourself lucky I'm not dragging you along the ground." and that shut Mal up, and she sure as hell wasn't going to risk struggling as Hades walked across the gangplank and onto the docks, ignoring the terrified looks he was getting as he stormed away from the docks, and after several minutes he turned down an alley and the next thing she knew she was being dumped unceremoniously on the ground and Hades was crouched in front of her, his blue eyes piercing as he glared at her.

"Well now Mallory, it is Mallory right?" Hades raised an eyebrow and Mal nodded quickly, pressing herself hard against the wall. "Good, now my brat of a son told me that you're the only one who knows where my Ember is. So you're gonna be a good girl and tell me where you've hidden it."  
and Mal had to resist the urge to laugh hysterically.

Well that was one way to rescue her from Uma, they'd pointed a pissed off Hades in her direction and used him to bust her out.

The only problem with that was the fact that she was now stuck at his mercy, and she couldn't give him the Ember she couldn't she needed it. But how the hell was she supposed to get out of this?

"I don't suppose you'd believe me if I told you I can't remember?"

It was barely even an attempt and from the look Hades gave her he knew that too.

"No one's stupid enough to fall for that." Hades rolled his eyes, "Listen kid you have five minutes to tell me what I want to know or I'm taking you back to my cave and you can stay down there until either you decide to talk or my dumbass kid and your friends come and try and rescue only to fail horribly, at which point you'll tell me where my Ember is to stop me from killing them. The choice is yours, either way I get what I want. So kid. What do you choose?"


	21. Family ties

Mal swallowed hard, her shaking was no longer just because the cold it was out of fear as well, "I can't." she shook her head, tongue darting out to dampen her suddenly too dry lips. "I can't-"

"You don't have a choice little girl." Hades voice was dangerous "I'm not a cruel God I just want my property back, if I hadn't interfered you'd still be at the mercy of those pirates you owe me."

"I can't." Mal repeated, taking a deep breath "I need the Ember."

"And what could you possibly need it for." Hades rolled his eyes, "It's useless on the Isle."

"I..." Mal hesitated, "I don't plan on using it on the Isle."

That made Hades raise an eyebrow, "You plan on escaping, now that's-"

"I'm not from the Isle I'm from Auradon." Mal swallowed hard, "I plan on taking the Ember with me off the Isle when I leave-"

"Now that's interesting." Hades raised an eyebrow, "Very interesting, you don't look like one of those prissy Princesses-"

"Queen." Mal was smart enough not to lie to Hades "The correct term is Queen."

"Well now that's very interesting." Hades laughed, "You're Belle and her Beasts brat?"

"Yes." Mal glared, "And don't talk about them like that."

"So why do you think you need my Ember?"

"I've been having dreams." Mal managed to force her arms to move, wrapping them around herself, she was still freezing, she really wished she could warm up but she felt like she'd never be warm again. "Telling me to come here and find the key to saving Auradon-"

"Auradon's in danger?" Hades raised an eyebrow, "Not that I care, I don't care about Auradon or the Isle. They can all rot for all I care."

"Yes." Mal nodded, "It is, and I saw the Ember in my dreams... Hadie helped me realize what I was dreaming of and I told him and he agreed to help me get it."

"That's all real interesting." Hades leaned back, "There's just one itty bitty problem your highness." his last word was mocking, "See, my Ember, even if you take it outside of the Isle you can't use it. Only I can. Hadie might be able to in a few years time but he's too young now. It'll burn up a normal human who tries to use it."  
Mal felt her heart sinking, her eyes widened slightly, "No." her voice was panicked, "No that can't be right the voice in my dreams insisted I needed the Ember it said it had to be me-"

"Awe poor thing." Hades snorted, "What's so bad you need my Ember anyway?"

"This Queen who really hates me stole Maleficent's scepter from the mus-"

"Maleficent's Sceptre?" Hades laughed, "I didn't even know that the Scepter was in Auradon I bet Maleficent's real pissed about that-"

"Uh.." Mal hesitated, raising an eyebrow "You really are out of touch aren't you? She's in Auradon, she's currently a tiny lizard."

"Oh now that I like." Hades laughed, "Tell me who I need to thank for that news."

"Uh.. me?" Mal said carefully, "I did it-"

"Huh, you have magic then, wouldn't have expected that from the kid of those two." Hades leaned back, "I see why you want my Ember but it's useless to you." He paused, "Unless you let me come with you-"

"Yeah that's not happening." Mal shook her head "No offense but you're like, the only villain who could be considered possibly worse than Maleficent and I do not want to deal with that." something still wasn't right she could feel it. And she could remember that voice in her dream, what he'd said, and suddenly she had a creeping suspicion she just couldn't shake away.

If she didn't ask then they might loose everything, even if a part of her desperately didn't want to know.

"You sound like you hate her?"

"Who, Maleficent?" Hades snorted, "Hate isn't a strong enough word for what I feel, I'm glad the bitch is a lizard now it's the least she deserves."

"What did she do to you?"

And Mal was stunned to see there was genuine grief in Hades' gaze as he spoke, "My dearest ex wife didn't like me leaving her so she used her goons to make sure I couldn't get anywhere near our daughter and then to make matters even worse the useless Fairy let my little Mali out of her sight and lost her." and Mal felt as if she'd been punched in the gut as Hades kept talking. "Somewhere like this? After the first few months you gotta assume a kid's dead. I searched for almost a year, nothing. She kept me from my daughter and then she let her killed." his voice was filled with venom, "When I get my hands on her-and I will I won't stay trapped here forever, I will visit all the tortures of the Underworld on her."

"I.." Mal swallowed hard, "What about Hadie?"

"Got real drunk when I was grieving." Hades shrugged, "Definitely not planned, I get Pain and Panic to keep an eye on him mostly." and suddenly she could understand why he kept his distance. He believed his daughter had died.. and he loved her god she could see it in his eyes he'd loved her and he'd lost her. She wondered if he was terrified of showing Hadie any love, terrified of getting close to his son and losing him too.

And wow. Wow because that meant Hadie was her brother. Her head was spinning from the shock of it all and she was glad she was sat down or she'd have probably fallen over.

"And you locked yourself away and cut yourself off from everything around you." Mal whispered, "Which means you have no idea what's been happening in the world outside of your cave."

"Why would I care what happens out there?" Hades snorted, "They never cared about my daughter."

And Mal's heart was aching for Hades, something she'd never thought would happen.

She unzipped her jacket pocket, slipping her hand into it and curling her fingers around the Ember. "Actually Auradon does care." she forced the words out before she could second guess herself, and Hades shot her a dirty look.

"Sure they do." his voice was sarcastic, "They didn't exactly send people to look for her-"

"She wasn't on the Isle." she had to do this. It was her best chance of getting him to let her take the Ember, though she flinched when Hades gaze snapped towards her and his eyes narrowed.

"Watch what you're saying little girl-"

"She ran away." Mal spoke over him quickly, "From Maleficent, they were still searching for the missing prince, they had their cars and she snuck into the back of one, managed to hide all the way to Beast Castle where she met Queen Belle and King Adam."

"Don't mock me-"

"They adopted her." Mal spoke over him, faster now, "They adopted her and they raised her and loved her and made her their heir even knowing that her mother was probably Maleficent. And six months ago she was crowned the Queen of Auradon and Maleficent attacked during her Coronation and your daughter turned Maleficent into a lizard." and Hades was staring at Mal silently his eyes wide in shock. "I... I didn't know. I never knew who my father way... birth father anyway... I didn't remember and it's not like I could ask-"

Hades hands were suddenly on her cheeks and he was leaning close, his eyes burning intensely with a mix of emotions as he examined her face as if looking for familiar features.

He must have found something because slowly his hands dropped away from her face and he leaned back, a stunned look on his face, "Mallory... Mal."

"They..." Mal swallowed hard, "They didn't want me to change my name, all I knew was that my name was Mal. So they decided to make it Mallory Beatrice."

"My little Mali." the tenderness on Hades face was shocking to Mal, the awe as he stared at her. "I thought.. I thought you died."

"I... I gathered." Mal managed a very faint smile, "They.. they were worried about how Maleficent would react so no pictures were allowed to be taken of me until my Coronation."

Hades reached out, cupping Mal's cheek gently, "My little girl... they treated you well?"

"Yes." Mal nodded "They did, they really did. Mom and dad-Belle and Adam adore me. They raised me as if I was their daughter."

"Good." Hades nodded, "Good that's good." his eyes narrowed as a thought occurred to him "Those pirates hurt you-"

"Don't." Mal shook her head, "Don't I can fight my own battles." Mal gave a faint smile as Hades seemed to start looking her up and down, his eyes focusing on the cut in her jacket, "They hurt your arm."

"Oh, yeah." Mal looked down, "I almost forgot."

"Take the jacket off." Hades ordered, and Mal hesitated for a moment before doing as she was told, blinking when Hades pulled the scarf he was wearing off when he saw the cut on her arm, which had reopened during all the excitement.

She watched as he wrapped the scarf around the cut as a makeshift bandage, a strange feeling in her stomach as she hugged the jacket close to her when he finished fastening the scarf,, which she noticed had a pattern of skills with flaming hair. That made her smile faintly.

"There." Hades pulled back slightly, "Where's my Ember?"

Mal hesitated before pulling it out of the jacket pocket and holding it up slowly, half expecting him to still lash out and snatch it away. "Here."

"You'll be able to use it, you're half Hades, but you won't be able to use it's full power." Hades said after a moment, "I will let you take it, with two conditions. You'll be taking Hadie back to Auradon with you yes? Don't try and deny it he let it slip when he asked me for help."

"Yeah."

"Look after him." Hades ordered, "You were right I'm not a good dad but I do love my son. You look after your little brother."

"I will." Mal didn't even hesitate. "What's the second condition?"

"You bring it back to me once you're done." Hades ordered.

"I..." Mal hesitated before nodding, "Fine-"

"In person. You don't send anyone else to do it for you-"

"But what if I'm busy-"

"Then you bring it back when you have time." Hades' voice was sharp, "But you bring it back personally."

"Why does it matter?"

"Because," Hades gave an almost sad smile, "That way I get to see you at least once more"


	22. Three words

Mal stared at the god for a long moment, blinking slowly, "You-"

"I want to see you again." Hades repeated, "So you are going to agree to bring me back my Ember personally after you use it to save Auradon. Because I highly doubt you'd come back to me for any other reason."

"I..." Mal swallowed hard, staring at Hades for a long moment. He cared. He wanted to see her again... and it wasn't as if he was really asking for that much now was it. He just wanted the chance to see her again. "It's a deal." her smile was faint, "It's a deal."

"Then I'll let you take it for now." Hades reached out, pressing his fingers to Mal's cheek, "Don't let the stone get wet little Mal, it'll lose it's power if it does. You're lucky that it didn't get wet inside that pocket." he frowned, "You're freezing aren't you?"

"Well the pirates did tip a bucket of freezing water over me." Mal pointed out softly, "It's hardly surprising."

"Right." Hades nodded before grabbing the wet jacket she was holding and tossing it aside, "That's useless to you." his voice was gruff, but he tugged his own floor length leather jacket off without any hesitation, draping it over Mal's shoulders, the thick, and more importantly dry leather was warm and she automatically hugged into the jacket.

"You-you're giving me your-"

"Don't make a big deal out of it." clearly Hades was trying to put on an indifferent mask, but it was easy for Mal to see through it and it made her smile faintly.

She understood the dreams now, but they'd not been completely accurate, he hadn't abandoned her, not really. Hades hadn't chosen to abandon her.

He loved her and that meant something.

Oh Adam was still her dad, her daddy the man who raised her but... she had space in her heart for Hades too, who loved her but didn't exactly know how to play the part of loving father.

He was trying.

"Of course not." Mal couldn't help her faint smile as she pulled the jacket around her tighter, "But thank you." she shifted slightly, "Uh.. what exactly happens now I don't know where my friends are."

"I told them I'd bring you back to that hideout of theirs when you told me where my ember was." Hades eyes narrowed, "Can you walk yet?"

"Uh, maybe?" honestly her legs still felt kind of like jelly but she so didn't want to admit that.

So she tucked the Ember into the pocket of the jacket, zipping it shut quickly before blinking when a hand was shoved in front of her face.

She looked up, following the hand up the arm and to Hades face, and he wouldn't meet her gaze as she hesitantly grabbed his hand and he helped pull her to her feet, though she had to steady herself against the wall.

She gave a sheepish smile at the way Hades let out a low growl-she had no doubt that it wasn't directed at her. He was angry at the pirates that had hurt her rather than at her, she could feel that right in her very bones.

"Shall I take that as a no?" Hades raised an eyebrow, and Mal's face flushed.

"I can probably walk." she pushed herself away from the wall, stumbling a few steps forward. And it had almost been better when her legs were numb because now they were aching from the kicks-and she was pretty sure one of them had caught her ankle badly because a pain shot up her leg when she put pressure on it.

Thankfully Hades caught her when she did fall and he rolled his eyes, "Stubborn as a mule." he grumbled, "Dunno if you get that from me or your mother." then he was sweeping her legs up from under her and her face flushed when she realized he planned on literally carrying her, one arm supporting her back and the other by her knees.

"Hey!" her protest was feeble and he silenced it was a glare which made her flush and she wrapped the leather jacket around her tighter as he carried her out of the alley-and they received some very strange looks as he walked through the streets, but Mal supposed being a God had to have some perks and people scattered out of Hades way as he walked.

In a way it reminded Mal of how people would often move out of her way, though never with such fear, and Hades didn't seem to be ashamed of making the most of it, glowering at anyone who was even slightly in his way and barking at them to move.

It was strange how safe she felt cradled in such a dangerous man's arms, but he was her father, and she knew instinctively that he'd never hurt her.  
It didn't take them long to reach the now familiar entrance to the hide out, and Hades lowered Mal to her feet carefully, his grip on her arm there purely to steady her when she wobbled slightly. "Can you walk enough to get up there?"

"I don't know." Mal admitted, forcing herself to put pressure on her left foot, wincing slightly, "I think so, my ankle hurts but I should be able to get up the stairs-"

"Good." Hades turned around a moment after releasing Mal's arm, turning and starting to walk away, which made Mal's eyes widen and she stumbled forward quickly, grabbing Hades shoulder, "Wait! I..." she swallowed hard, biting her lip, "Hades I... where are you going I... don't you want to say goodbye to Hadie?"

"No." Hades shook his head, "It's better this way. I'm not a good dad, if I start trying now he might not want to go with you. And he'll be better off away from the Isle."

"I..." Mal shook her head, "That's sad."

"Yeah, life's not all roses on the Isle little Mali, you were lucky." he gave a small shrug, "You got that perfect Auradon life. I'm glad. You were better off there, they gave you more than I could have given you."

"Uma's crew are bound to be angry." Mal tried weakly, "What if they come after us when we're leaving-"

"I'll watch from a distance." Hades said after a moment, "Make sure no one bothers you, from just out of sight."

"You really should say goodbye-"

"I said no." Hades' voice was slightly harsh, "Hadie is better without me and so are you little Mali."

"I..." Mal bit her lip hard before pushing herself up onto her tiptoes, ignoring the pain in her foot as she pressed her lips to Hades' cheeks. "You're not a perfect parent but you're not a really bad one either papa." the word seemed to slip out of her mouth but it felt right, and there was a flash of something soft in Hades' eyes before he pulled back.

"Go little Mali. Your friends are waiting for you." Hades paused, "I'll be watching the news from now on, keep up with your life. I missed most of your life I don't want to miss anything else." he grabbed her hand for just a moment, squeezing it gently before releasing it. Be careful Mali." his lips pressed against the top of Mal's head before he turned and walked away.

Mal watched him for a long moment before she turned back around, blinking away tears and taking a moment before quickly finding a stone and throwing it at the sign, sending it spinning to the side and lifting the entrance to the hide out.

Mal took a deep breath before stepped inside and very slowly making her way up the steps, wincing and gritting her teeth at every step, leaning heavily against the railings and using them to help pull herself up.

By the time she was half way up she needed to take a break, so she sat down on one of the steps, closing her eyes and letting out a shaky breath as she took a deep breath, giving herself a moment before she stood once more and managed to limp her way up the last few steps, and when she limped into the hide out she saw her friends scattered around the rooms in chairs and bean bags, all of them looking worried, and it was Hadie who spotted her first, and he was on his feet instantly, almost flying at Mal, crashing into her and hugging her tightly, "MAL!" and Mal wrapped her arms around him quickly, closing her eyes. At least she understood why she felt a connection to the boy, he was her baby brother.

And of course Hadie's reaction had everyone turning to look, and Ben nearly fell over in his haste to get up, "Oh my god." Ben was the second to reach her, Evie catching Dizzy to stop the girl from rushing over, everyone else standing back slightly as Hadie ducked away so Ben could get to Mal, and Ben hugged her tightly, pressing his face into the top of Mal's head, "Thank god." she could feel him shaking slightly as he held her, and Mal pressed her face into her boyfriends shoulder, letting out a shaky breath. "Are you okay Mal?"

"I'll be okay." Mal whispered, "But bruised and battered but I'll be okay." she closed her eyes as Ben gently pushed her chin up, pressing his lips against hers. It was only a quick kiss, just a brief kiss before he pulled back slightly, cupping her cheek in his hand, thumb rubbing softly against her skin.

"You have no idea how scared I was."

"Bet I was more scared." Mal joked softly, "But I'm okay now Ben. I'm safe and I'm with you and I'm not going anywhere."

"They hurt you." it wasn't a question and Ben's thumb brushed just below the cut on her cheek.

"Mostly Harry." Mal said softly "A bit of Uma too. But I'm okay Ben."

"I can't-" Ben shook his head, "Mal I love you I can't lose you again." and Mal's eyes widened slightly, and she wondered if Ben had even noticed what he'd said. Because he'd never said that he'd loved her before. She could hear Evie's soft gasp but she just smiled softly, reaching up to press her hand to Ben's cheek.

"Ben, you're not going to lose me I promise." she shook her head, "I love you too."


	23. New looks

After Ben and Mal had their moment the others moved forward and Mal found Jay yanking her from Ben's arms to give her a hug.

"Don't scare us like that again-" then Carlos was pulling her into a hug.

"We thought we were gonna lose you for a while there." Carlos added, "We were scared as hell."

"We're so glad you're okay." Evie caught Mal's hand, her expression soft, "We should have stuck together-"

"You couldn't have stopped them." Mal shook her head, "We had no weapons and we were outnumbered. Besides it all turned out okay in the end right?"

"Did it?" that was Hadie, and his voice sounded small, "I... my dad did get you out right-" he paused, "Why are you wearing his jacket?"

"I was cold. Uma dumped a bucket of cold water over me-"

"I'm gonna kill her." Ben snarled, but Jay's grip on his shoulder seemed to ground him slightly though he still muttered mutinously under his breath.

"And he gave you his jacket?" Hadie raised an eyebrow before shrugging, "I will never understand him."

"And-is that the scarf he was wearing?" Evie gently tugged the fabric wrapped around Mal's arm as the young Queen finally squirmed away from everyone else's grips, and there was a question in Evie's tone that made Mal bite her lip. She knew she should probably tell them, but.. now really wasn't the right time she didn't feel ready yet.

"There was a cut on my arm." Mal avoided her friends eyes, "He used his scarf to bandage it."

"Seriously?" Hadie raised an eyebrow, "That's surprisingly nice of him... Then again I guess he was glad to get his Ember back.. I am sorry Mal but... we needed to get you back."

"We'll figure out some other way to beat Leah." Ben's voice was firm, "We needed to get you that that was... I know the Ember was important but that has to be some other way-"

Mal stopped Ben mid sentence, pulling the Ember from her pocket and holding it up so that he could see.

"He didn't make me give it back-"

"What?" Dizzy spoke up, her eyes wide, "Why not?"

"Yeah that's a real good question. The only reason he agreed to help was the fact I told him you'd give him back the Ember." Hadie's voice was suspicious, "My dad never does anything for free so for him to be so nice to you you must have offered him something really good. What is it a trip to Auradon?"

"No." Mal shook her head, "The deal I made is between me and him Hadie."

"Mal-" Ben's voice was filled with concern, "Please at least tell me you're not in danger because of it."

"I'm gonna be fine." Mal squeezed his hand, "Ben... Hades isn't a threat." she shook her head, "I didn't agree to anything bad I swear-"

"So he's not gonna cause trouble?" that was Evie, her voice worried.

"Not for us." for Uma... well she'd told him she could fight her own battles but if he ran into the pirates they'd probably be safest running as far away as they could as fast as they could because Mal had seen a lot of angry looks in her life and the look on Hades face when he'd realized that not only was she his daughter but they'd hurt her... yeah if Uma had half a brain she'd be laying as low as possible for the foreseeable future.

"We trust you." that was Jay, "Whatever deal you made... we trust you. It's just hard to imagine Hades doing the right thing."

"He had good motivation this time." Mal gave a wry smile. "He's not gonna turn around and screw us over I know that much."

"If you say so." Hadie's voice was doubtful, "I... should I expect him to be outside preparing to drag me back so I can't come to Auradon?"

"No." Mal shook her head, "No you shouldn't... Hadie.." she hesitated but, "Part of the deal was for me to take you to Auradon and take care of you... he's not good at showing it but your dad does love you."

"Sure. Don't try and make me feel good." Hadie gave a small shrug, "He wouldn't bother asking you to look out for me he'd say if I'm not good enough to look after myself then tough crap." and okay that made Mal's heart ache but Hadie was wrong, he was so wrong but he didn't understand how wrong he was because Hades was just not good with feelings or showing that he cared.

"Hadie..."

"We should go." Carlos spoke softly, seeing the look on Mal's face, "Let's get out of here."

"Right." Mal nodded, "We should go. Carlos is right."

And so together the group left the hide out. This time Jay and Carlos were stood in front and Mal was behind, with Ben next to her, one arm over his shoulder as he helped her walk, and both Hadie and Dizzy were either side of Evie.

And this time there were no run ins with enemies, the bath was suspiciously clear-at least that was what Mal heard Jay and Carlos whispering about, and she smiled knowingly, glancing around, and occasionally she thought she spotted a flash of blue hair, and she'd grip the front of the jacket that was still wrapped around her tightly.

He was keeping his word and watching them out of Auradon, making sure that they didn't run into any trouble. It made her feel warm, like the way her dad's hugs did when she'd fallen over while he was watching her when she was little. It was that feeling of being protected, of being loved unconditionally. She just wished she could find a way to make Hadie see that Hades did love him even if he was terrible at showing it.

In any case it didn't take the gang too long to reach the limo, which was covered with a ragged sheet, that Jay and Carlos set to work removing immediately.

Once the sheet was removed Jay slipped into the drivers seat and the rest of them piled into passengers section of the limo, where Dizzy curled into  
Evie's side while Carlos wrapped an arm over Evie's shoulder and Mal curled up with Ben and Hadie on either side of her, Ben slipping his hand into her and squeezing gently as Mal let her head rest on her boyfriends shoulder, his face turning so that his lips were pressed against Mal's head as Jay started the car and they took off.

It wasn't long before Mal felt them crossing through the barrier, her magic flooding back to her with a vengeance, her free hand slipping into her pocket to curl around the Ember which pulsed warmly in her hand.

It was Evie's startled gasp that made Mal frown and she lifted her head, "What's up-"

"Mal you look-"

"Is it the Ember?" Ben asked quickly, "Did the Ember do that?"

"Do what?" Mal frowned, and Evie was pulling out her phone quickly and pulling up the camera before she turned the phone so that Mal could see herself, and her hair had returned normal-almost. Instead of her natural dark purple her hair now had a tint of blue with streaks running through it.

"It has to be." Hadie frowned, a slightly suspicious glint in his eyes once more-clearly he was smart enough to realize that it couldn't just be the Ember.

It had to be the Ember reacting with the Hades half of Mal, she realized.

"Guess so." Mal reached up to touch a curl as she stared into the phone camera, "I like it."

"It looks cool." Dizzy spoke up with a smile.

"It really does." admittedly the cut on her face and the bruises didn't look quite so cool but there was nothing she could do about those for now,

"Though I loved the way you dyed my hair before I really did Dizzy-"

"It's okay it looks much cooler now I'm not offended." Dizzy grinned and Carlos laughed.

"I seriously don't know how the Isle produced someone as upbeat as you Dizzy."

"She's just special like that." Evie smiled proudly, squeezing Dizzy's shoulder.

"And I'm in Auradon now." Dizzy beamed, "This is the coolest thing that's ever happened to me."

"It is pretty cool." Hadie admitted, shifting so that he could look out of the window "Everything looks so... bright."

"It is." Mal reached out to lay her free hand on Hadie's shoulder.

"What happens to Hadie and me now?" Dizzy paused, "I mean, do we get to go to Auradon Prep?"

"You're a little bit young." Mal told her, "But I'll make sure you both get tutors to help you catch up and at the start of the new school year you should be old enough to attend."

"What happens to us until then?" Hadie frowned, "Where do we stay?"

"That will depend." Mal hummed thoughtfully, "If you wanted to stay at the school-I tend to live there at the moment because I'm technically still a student then I'm sure that you'd be given rooms. If not you can live at Castle Beast. My mom and dad plan on going on a late honeymoon at some point soon but there's plenty of servants there who can help look after you if you want." she'd rather they stay at the school honestly, she'd rather keep them close, they'd be her responsibility after all.

"We can actually live in a castle?" Dizzy's voice was excited, "That's so cool. Can we see both before we decide?"

"You'll be seeing Castle Beast in a few hours." Ben spoke up, lifting Mal's hand and pressing his lips to the back of her hand, "Word of warning, none of the yelling will be aimed at you."

"Uh, that sounds bad." Hadie's voice was nervous, but Mal just groaned.

"Only for me. My mom and dad are going to completely and totally murder me. Queen or not I'm still their baby girl and I ran off to the Isle without telling them." she turned her head to look at Ben, "D'you think the bruises will help make them feel bad for me-"

"I think the bruises will make your dad even worse."

"Five bucks says he's gonna threaten to go to the Isle to kill whoever hurt her." Carlos piped up with a grin.

"Only a moron would take that bet." Jay called from the front. "I remember the first time he saw Chad after Family day. The Queen mother had to hold him back from killing him."

And Mal let herself laugh at the memory, draping an arm around Hadie's shoulder comfortingly and pulling the boy into her side as the laughter and teasing filled the limo.


	24. Home

Mal wasn't sure when she drifted off, but something about the warmth and safety of the limo, and the exhaustion she was feeling from what had been an extremely long day.

One second she'd been smiling softly and listening to her friends voices and the next thing she knew she felt a faint breeze and movement, a pair of arms lifting her bridal style out of the limo.

She kept her eyes closed for a moment, listening to her friends hushed whispers.

Then she heard a familiar voice, "Prince Ben!" it was Lumiere, his voice was sharp and worried, "Is the Queen-"

"She's alright Lumiere, she fell asleep on the journey home, she's a bit battered but she'll be fine."

"Her parents haven't slept a wink." Lumiere informed Ben, "I will tell them that their daughter is home but asleep-"

"No." Mal let out a tired sigh and opened her eyes, "I'm awake." she tried to stifle a yawn, "I assume they wish to speak with me."

"Yes your highness." Lumiere's familiar voice was comforting.

"Can you get them to meet me in dad's study then?" Mal shifted slightly in Ben's arms, "Ben, you can pu-"

"Not a chance." Ben's voice was slightly sharp, "I am carrying you all the way up to the study."

"Fine." she sighed tiredly, looking over at Lumiere, who was just turning away, "Once you've spoken to my parents can you come back and prepare two new rooms for our guests, Hadie and Dizzy, anything they ask for Lumiere."

"Of course mon cher." Lumiere gave Mal a small nod before rushing inside, and Mal looked back over Ben's shoulder to the others, Evie was holding Dizzy's hands and letting the younger girl spin her in excitement, and Hadie was stood with Carlos looking around with guarded curiosity and awe, and Jay was watching the four of them carefully, smiling faintly.

"Ben." Mal let out a breath as they started to move inside, heading up the long path in the center of the courtyard up to the door and then inside of the castle, "Once you've set me down in dad's study can you go and make sure the others are okay and get Dizzy and Hadie settled into their rooms?"

"Of course Mal." Ben gave her a reassuring smile, "I'll let you and your parents speak privately don't worry." he made his way up the stairs-and honestly Mal gave herself a moment to be impressed at how easy Ben made carrying her up them look because while she wasn't big by any means it still showed that he was pretty strong.

When they reached Adam's study Ben used his elbow to push down the handle and open the door and he moved inside quickly, setting Mal down gently on the couch that was up against the wall. "They'll be here soon. I can go and look after the others."

"Thank you." Mal gave Ben a soft smile, "I love you so much-"

"I know." Ben hesitated before giving a small smile, "I love you too Mal." then he was leaving the room and Mal shifted so that she was sat up, running her fingers through her curls, pulling them down slightly so that she could look at them, it really was a pretty effect, the blue tint and streaks in her hair.

And her free hand slipped into her pocket to curl around the Ember which pulsed warmly at her touch, a comforting feeling that made her smile softly.

She was pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of the door opening, and then Belle and Adam were rushing across the room towards her, Belle reaching her first and dropping to her knees next to the couch and pulling Mal into a hug, her face streaked with tears as she ran her fingers through Mal's hair, "Oh Mal, Mal thank goodness you're okay."

"We were so worried." Adam followed his wife's example, pulling them both into a hug, "You don't... don't do that again darling we thought... we were terrified you were.."

"I'm okay." Mal said quickly, "I'm okay."

"We've been worried sick." Belle and Adam both pulled back slightly to look at Mal, and Belle traced his fingers over Mal's cheek, careful not to touch the cut or the bruises, "What happened to you darling?"

"I had some run ins with some pirates." Mal shifted slightly, "But I had some help getting out of trouble. And I got what I went to the Isle for."

"Oh?" Adam raised an eyebrow, "And what was worth risking your life?" there was an undercurrent of anger in his voice, his eyes narrowing, "You could have been killed the Isle is dangerous."

Mal pulled the Ember from her pocket, "This."

"What is it?" Belle's voice was soft, "What is that sweetie?"

"Hades Ember, the one thing stronger than Maleficent's Scepter."

"You actually did it." Adam gaped, "You stole from Hades-"

"It's more complicated than that I didn't steal it." Mal hesitated, she hadn't been quite ready to tell her friends yet, but... it was different with her parents, if anyone had a right to know it would be them and Hadie. Who she'd have to talk to privately later.

"Mom, dad there's something you should probably know." she took a deep breath, "I found out I was looking for the Ember from Hadie. He's Hades' son and he's here by the way. He'll be my ward, and so will a girl called Dizzy they both helped me get the Ember. Then... stuff happened and Hadie managed to get Hades to get me out of trouble by saying I could give him back his Ember and... I figured something out while we were talking."

"Mal, whatever it is it's okay." Adam's voice was soft, "It'll be okay." he brushed a curl out of Mal's face. "Tell us."

"He... he hasn't really connected with anything outside of his cave other than Hadie and his minions since Hadie was born... doesn't watch the news or anything. He had no idea what happened to Maleficent but he seemed real pleased so I asked why he hated her and... he told me it was because she kept-"

"She kept you from him." Belle finished softly, "And then she lost you and I assume he thought you were dead yes?"

"Yeah." Mal nodded, "He... biologically speaking he's my father."

"You... Hades is.." Adam blinked slowly, "Hades. And Maleficent. The two most powerful villains, and you're their daughter?" he shook his head, "I suppose it just proves how special you are."

"And he gave you the Ember?"

"Pretty much yes." Mal nodded, "He... he wanted me, he wasn't perfect but he loves me and he agreed to give me the Ember to save Auradon because he loves me."

"He must love you then." Belle took Mal's hand and squeezed very gently, "Should I guess that the jacket you're wearing is his?"

"Mine was wet and I was cold." Mal admitted, "So he took off his and wrapped it around me."

"That's good." Adam looked very slightly upset and Mal frowned.

"Daddy you know that it doesn't change anything right? You'll always be my daddy. Even if I did start to bond with Hades you wouldn't mean any less to me I love you with all my heart. You're still the best dad I could have ever asked for."

Belle pulled her hand free just in time because a moment later Adam was surging forward and hugging Mal tightly, "You'll always be my baby girl." his voice was gruff, "I love you Mal, so much." he pressed his lips to the top of the young girls head, fingers combing through her soft curls. "I won't get upset if you want some kind of bond with Hades though I don't know how you'll manage it darling."

"I don't know what I'll do yet." Mal admitted, closing he eyes and hugging her dad back, "But whatever happens I'll always be your baby girl you're right about that."

"Good." Belle smiled softly, "It's hard enough seeing you being all grown up and being the wonderful Queen you are, we're not quite ready for you to decide you're not our baby girl."

"I'll be your baby girl when I'm ninety mom." Mal laughed softly, "I love you both so much."

"We know." Belle smiled as Mal shifted slightly out of Adam's bear hug-or beast hug as Belle had always affectionately called it. "Just don't scare us like that again."

"I'll try not to." Mal gave a wry smile, "I didn't mean to scare you... Didn't know that the magic that made the fake scepter look and feel real would stop working while I was gone. I thought I'd be back before you could worry-"

"That doesn't make it any better." Adam grumbled, flicking Mal's nose gently, "You know I thought we'd been lucky and missed the really rebellious teen phase but now I'm not so sure."

"Dad!" Mal laughed, "A Queen can't afford to have much of a rebellious phase-besides you never knew about the parties I threw at school."

"Oh?" Belle raised an eyebrow, "Now that sounds interesting. You and Audrey I presume."

"Well yeah, when did I ever do anything without Audrey at least helping somehow? Speaking of I think I'll call her later, let her know that I'm okay. And we'll have to start planning-it was Leah who stole the scepter, knowing her she'll attack during Cotillion."

"You probably should, she's very worried." Belle shook her head, "Though you should have a nice long bath and a nap before you do anything else, we can start planning on how to deal with the scepter situation after, you're probably right she'll want to make an entrance she's always been rather dramatic just look at your Coronation. You look tired still though Lumiere says you had a nap on the ride back from the Isle?"

"I did." Mal nodded, "But it's been a long day-"

"Longer than a day honey." Belle shook her head, "It's Sunday now.

"Huh." Mal blinked, "That's... wow.." she shook her head, "The bath sounds like a great idea anyways, though I may need help getting to my room, my ankle isn't great right now."

"I'll carry you-"

"You just want to feel like she's a little girl again." Belle laughed teasingly, and Adam gave an unashamed shrug.

"She's my baby of course I want to feel like she's a little girl again, what father wants his daughter to be all grown up." as he spoke he was picking Mal up carefully, "I'll carry you to your room sweetheart."

"Thank you daddy." Mal leaned her head against Adam's shoulder as he carried her upstairs to her room. It wouldn't be easy to deal with Leah, but at least she had a few days to track her before panicking.


	25. siblings

Mal spent well over an hour in the bath, the water steaming hot and the scented bubbles relaxing her and soothing the worst of her aches, once she'd washed away the worst of the dirt and the dried blood on her arm and face.

She had to admit washing it away felt nice, though it would be even better if she could wash away the memories of her humiliation on boards the Lost Revenge. Still... she could quite happily imagine the looks on Uma and Harry's faces when Hades had shown up.

They were lucky he'd had no clue who she was at that point.

By the time she did get out her skin was wrinkled from the water, and she changed into her pajamas's quickly before flopping into her bed and closing her eyes with a pleased sigh, her mom and dad had been right a nap would just about get her back to normal.

Of course she should have known it wouldn't be that simple because as she was starting to fall asleep there was a soft knock at her door and she groaned as she opened her eyes, "Yes?" her voice was muffled, but she lifted her head when the door opened and Lumiere poked his head around the door.

"Mon cher, one of your guests wanted to know if he could speak to you."

"Which one?" Mal sat up, "Hadie or Dizzy."

"Me." Hadie poked his head around Lumiere's side, "I want to talk to you."

"Come on in then. That you Lumiere."

"Of course." Lumiere moved to let Hadie into the room before he shut the door behind the boy, who stood awkwardly, his eyes flicking to the leather jacket that had been tossed over the chair in the corner of the room.

"C'mere." Mal sighed as she shifted, patting the bed meaningfully, "I should have known you'd want to talk."

Hadie looked hesitant as he moved forward, his eyes glued to Mal. "My dad wouldn't have done it out of the goodness of his heart. He doesn't do nice, and that's his kid saying that."

"He doesn't do nice because he'd scared of caring about you." Mal corrected, "He does love you he just... is trying to keep his distance which is dumb as hell but hey, he's been grieving for nearly fourteen years now."

"Grieving for you." it wasn't a question, "I'm right aren't I?"

"Yeah." Mal sighed, "Which I was unaware of for the record, I figured it out when we were talking after he rescued me. Turns out he was with Maleficent for a while, when they split up it wasn't nice and she didn't let him near me."

"And then you disappeared and everyone assumed you died." Hadie finished, "And we went out and got my mom pregnant-the timeline would match up right."

"Yeah." Mal gave a wry smile, "Definitely explains why I find you so annoying, according to Doug all little siblings are annoying-"

"And I guess all big siblings are annoying too." Hadie shot back, an almost shy smile on his lips, "So I have a big sister huh."

"And I have that baby brother I always wanted." Mal grinned, shifting so that she was sat next to Hadie and elbowing him gently. "He does love you. You know that right?"

"Yeah... I just... he's not exactly affectionate."

"I wasn't lying. Part of the deal I made with him was that I'd look after you in Auradon which I mean, I'd have done anyway even not knowing that you're totally my baby brother."

"I guess that's kinda... he really does love me."

"He loves both of us. He just... I guess after having me ripped away from him by Maleficent and then hearing that I'd disappeared... being unable to find me-"

"It broke him. At least now I know why he wanted nothing to do with the outside world." Hadie looked down. "He's better than a lot of parents on the Isle even if he's not the most present dad around. He doesn't make me work for him or anything like that and he's never been rough with me like some of the parents on the Isle."

"Good. Cause I don't care if he was nice to me or not if I found out he'd ever hit you I'd have to hit him back." that did the job of getting Hadie to laugh, and Mal draped an arm around his shoulder.

"You gonna tell your friends that-"

"I don't..." Mal shifted slightly, "Eventually?" it was almost a question, "I know I'll need to talk to them about it eventually. I've already told my parents... I just..." she sighed, "I'm still processing the shock of it all." honestly the first person she'd wanted to tell was Audrey. The other girl was her confidant, her best friend.

No matter how close she was to the Isle Kids or how much she loved Ben there were things she'd want to tell Audrey first, because Audrey had been the one who'd helped Mal when she was little and she'd felt lost in Auradon, always slightly different, always aware that she was from the Isle even if everyone treated her well, it had manifested as she got older in her constant changing of her hair color, the bright bold colors had been find when they hadn't been her natural purple.

Of course that had settled after Ben and her Coronation, she'd stopped her constant changed, accepted who she was somewhat, because facing Maleficent had shown her that she really was nothing like the woman.

And now she knew who her birth father was. Hades. She was Hades' daughter, and it was like feeling a missing piece she'd barely noticed settling into place.

She really would have to call Audrey later, after talking to Hadie and having a nap.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by Hadie's elbow digging into her side gently. "So if my big sister is the Queen does that make me a prince?" he grinned, clearly trying to draw her own of her tangled mess of a mind.

"Hm..." Mal elbowed him back, smirking, "It makes you a royal pain in my ass, that's what it makes you." and his laughter was infectious Mal had to admit. "Hey, tell ya what Hadie," she shifted, grabbing her phone off her bedside table, "I can text Lumiere and ask him to bring us up some food and we can watch a movie if you want. And I'll tell him to ask the others to give us some quiet time-though they think I'm asleep anyway."

"That sounds pretty cool." Hadie grinned, "I always wanted to try Auradon food."

"I'll make sure to ask him for some chocolate." Mal promised as her fingers flew over the keys of her phone before she clicked the send button.

After she'd done that she set up a film on her admittedly ridiculously large TV-perks of being royalty after all.

She settled on an adventure type film that she figured Hadie would like, and she smiled at Lumiere when he opened the door and carried a tray with bags of chips, chocolate bars and frankly insane amounts of candy on it, along with a large bottle of pop and two cups.

"I come with your snacks mon cher." the servant who was more like an uncle to Mal winked as he placed the tray at the bottom of her bed, eyeing the way that Hadie was leaning forward, mouth open in shock at the sight of so much food.

Admittedly all of it was unhealthy, but the occasional binge on unhealthy food didn't do any harm and she'd make sure that he was eating healthily after this. He'd never had any real treats like this before.

To give her little brother credit Hadie managed to wait at least until the door swung shut behind Lumiere before he almost vaulted across the bed to grab some of the food-a bar of chocolate first.

"Is this-"

"Chocolate." Mal laughed as the boy ripped the wrapper off and shoved some into his mouth, "Calm down Hadie there's plenty-"

"Ohmygod." Hadies words were rather muffled in a way that made Mal giggle, his cheeks bulging.

"Let's make a note." Mal said teasingly, "Hadie has a thing for chocolate." she pulled a face as she watched him manage to eat the huge mouthful he'd taken. "Next time take a smaller bite Hadie, you're not in the Isle anymore there's lots of chocolate and you're not gonna have it taken away from you."

"I love Auradon." Hadie said firmly, "Can I try some of the drink?"

"Sure." Mal moved quickly, grabbing the glasses and setting them on the bedside table, pouring out some of the pop-strawberry flavored, into them and handing one to Hadie.

He took a sip and gasped happily, "Why is everything here so nice?"

"Because it's Auradon." Mal shrugged, "Also, if you like the pop then you need to try actual strawberries they are amazing."

"I can't wait." Hadie grinned, "There's gonna be so much stuff to try. I dunno how I'm gonna manage-"

"You will." Mal smiled fondly, "You will, now bring the tray up here and we can settle down and stuff our faces while we watch the movie."

"Right the movie!" Hadie nodded and did as he was told, setting the tray down next to them and curling into Mal's side as the older girl draped an arm over his shoulder while they watched the movie, both of them picking at the snacks and Mal answering every question Hadie asked.

If it was anyone else talking all the way through a movie she might have gotten frustrated but she found that she had a lot of patience for her newfound baby brother and she found herself smiling indulgently at him instead.

And before the movie was over Hadie had drifted off cuddled into Mal's side and Mal had to rather awkwardly transfer the tray to her bedside table to avoid the horrors of melted chocolate and crumbs all over her bed.

And of course once she'd moved the tray her fingers combed through Hadie's pale blue curls as her own eyes started to droop, and before she knew what was even happening she was asleep too.


	26. Phone calls

When Mal next woke up Hadie was gone and a check of her phone told her that she'd slept through most of the day, and it was gonna be a nightmare trying to get her sleep schedule back to normal, she was gonna have to stay up even when she got tired early in the day. Not that she thought she'd actually be in school in the morning, she'd have to skip a day, it wasn't as if she wasn't already way ahead in her school work anyway since she hoped to graduate early to clear her schedule somewhat.

She could feel her stomach rumbling as she swung her legs off the bed. She was starving, it must have been hours since she'd eaten snacks with Hadie.

It was gone eleven, that meant that Mrs Potts wouldn't be in the kitchen but Mal knew how to whip herself up a quick bite to eat, and while she was down there she could call Audrey.

With that decided Mal grabbed her phone, heading down to the kitchen as quietly as she could, where she quickly made herself a sandwich before sitting down and clicking on her best friends number, putting it on speaker phone and laying it on the table so that she could eat her sandwich while talking to Audrey, taking a few bites while the phone rang.

Then she heard the familiar click of someone answering and she grinned, though her smile died almost instantly.

"Mal?" the voice was slightly shaky, and that put Mal on edge.

Her best friend was many things but she wasn't ever nervous on the phone. Not like this.

"Audrey?"

"I..." and yeah, something was very wrong because Audrey was never this hesitant or nervous, she always had some witty comment or greeting for Mal. "Mal I.."

"Audrey, Audrey what's wrong?" Mal pushed her half eaten sandwich to the side, forcing herself to take slow deep breaths, panicking right now would help no one at all she needed to focus on finding out what was wrong with her best friend.

"I'm sorry I-"

"Hello your Highness." the voice was familiar and she could hear Audrey letting out a distressed whimper as the phone was clearly taken from her, "Tell me is it Mal, Mallory or Maleficent? Which is your name-"

"Leah." Mal felt as if there was something heavy in the pit of her stomach, she felt the urge to throw up.

"You don't sound surprised."

"I knew you weren't on the Isle and it makes a twisted kind of sense that it was you who stole the scepter."

"Yes, yes but I'm not entirely used to using magic, did my fake pass muster?"

"For a little while yeah it had us convinced." Mal stared at the phone, wishing she could reach through it and strangle Leah. "So, how does it feel to use the scepter of the woman you despise-"

"Good, very good actually. You forced me into this Mallory, I hope you know that. You and the rest of Auradon, how they can't see what you really are I'll never know but I will show them. Believe me I will."

"What do you want?" Mal closed her eyes.

"I was going to wait until Cotillion... keep my darling granddaughter with me of course and crash the ball. But... well you calling changes things a little."

"You won't hurt her-"

"Oh of course not. I would never hurt Audrey... I love her." Leah's voice was cold, "I could have raised her, the way I should have raised her mother,  
to be a perfect Princess, to marry a powerful Prince and be powerful herself-"

"Because being the best friend of the Queen and one of her most trusted allies isn't a position of power at all." Mal snorted, "Leah your vision of Audrey would have probably toxic and damaged. Like you-"

"How dare you." Leah snarled the words, "You stole her from me-"

"I-I stole her?"

"You tainted her! You made her believe it was acceptable for-"

"Shut up." Mal felt a surge of anger, "Get over yourself Leah! I did nothing to you! I'm not her. I'm not Maleficent! You need to get over it I was just an innocent kid who had the misfortune of being related to a monster! You think I'm proud of her? You think I'm like her? My mom and dad are Belle and Adam, they raised me and they loved me and you couldn't accept the fact that I wasn't her! Everything that's happened to you over the past eleven years is your own fault!"

"She's right!" Mal could hear Audrey's voice in the background, "I hate you Grammy! I hate you for hurting my best friend I hate you for trying to make me into a miniature you I ha-"

"Silence!" Leah's voice was angry, "Sleep now Audrey-"

"No!" Mal's voice was sharp, "No Leah don't!" she heard a thud, and she knew without being told that it was Audrey's unconscious body hitting the floor.

"Too late." Leah's voice was cold, "Don't worry your highness, she'll be safe, just... asleep. I can wake her whenever I want. I told you I wouldn't hurt her-"

"I... you.." Mal swallowed hard, "What do you want."

"You, to meet me here at the spa on your own. I'm sure you know which one it is you and Audrey always seemed to know where one another are. I've taken it over."

"What will you do when I come?"

"I'll finish what I started on your fifth birthday." Leah hung up immediately after that and Mal flinched, swallowing hard and running her fingers through her hair as she stared at the kitchen table before standing up, leaving the half finished sandwich on the table as she sprinted up the stairs to her room, yanking her shoes on quickly and grabbing the long leather jacket which her father had given her and pulling it on, slipping her hand into the pocket as she did.

The Ember was in there. That was good, really good.

She swallowed hard, her mind racing before she made a choice and left her room again, shutting the door behind her and moving to Ben's room and knocking on the door.

It was opened a moment later by a tired looking Ben, though he woke up fairly quickly when his eyes focused on Mal and he saw the determined look on her face. "What happened?"

"Leah. I tried calling Audrey but-"

"Leah's got her." Ben finished, eyes widening, "What did she demand?"

"Me. Alone Ben-"

"Mal no-"

"Ben." Mal grabbed his hand quickly, "Please please Ben I.."

"I'm coming with you." Ben's voice was firm, "Mal you can't leave me behind again."

"She said alone.. she... what if she hurts people-"

"I'll stay outside but I am coming with you."

"I... the spa, you know the one-"

"I remember going there to see you, Evie and Audrey a week after your Coronation I remember." Ben agreed quickly, "I'll drive. Have you got-"

"The Ember, yeah." Mal pulled it out of her pocket to show Ben, hating the fact that her hands were shaking slightly.

"We'll get Audrey out." Ben kissed the top of Mal's head, brushing his fingers through Mal's hair "You're stronger than Leah."

"I hope so." Mal nodded, and then Ben was pulling on his shoes and a jacket and together they made their way out of the castle, as quietly as they could, Ben's arm wrapped around Mal protectively, half helping her walk since her ankle still wasn't exactly painless.

Mal let out a shaky breath once they were outside, Ben snatching some keys from the hooks by the door, and he quickly located the car that the keys belonged to and they rushed to it quickly, Mal sliding into the passenger side while Ben slipped into the drivers and started up the car quickly, speeding down the long driveway and off the castle grounds. "Did she give you a time limit?"

"No." Mal shook her head, staring out of the car window. "No, she's bound to know it'll take me hours to get there." she swallowed hard, "Ben what if... what if I'm not strong enough-"

"Mal-" Ben reached out, grabbing her hand and squeezing gently, though he kept his gaze on the road, "You're strong enough. I know you're worried about Audrey but you can beat her. I know Leah scares you, I get it. But she's never used magic before, you have. Besides-" he glanced at her for a second, smirking slightly, "You handled Maleficent pretty well Mal, and Leah's nothing compared to my insane mother, scepter or not."

"You're right." Mal let out a breath, "I have the Ember. I have the one thing more powerful than the scepter and I'm more experienced. I'm just scared I won't be able to save Audrey."

"You're being dumb Mal." Ben's voice was fond, "You'll be fine. You'll save Audrey and Auradon again, it's who you are and what you do. Auradon is yours."

And with that an almost comfortable silence fell on the car as Mal stared out of the window, Ben's words, his faith in her filling her up and giving her a strength that she hadn't even realized she'd been missing.

Because he was right. Leah wasn't as bad as Maleficent-or at least she wasn't as strong as the Fairy. The only advantage she had was the scepter and Mal's fear of her, and Mal had the key to defeating both of those factors, she had the Ember still warm and comforting in the pocket of her papa's jacket and the other key was simply her own willpower. Yes Leah had repeatedly caused her trouble and suffering, but she was the one who came out on top every time. No matter what Leah had Mal would always be the stronger, because she was the better person.

With those thoughts filling her mind her fingers curled around the Ember and she closed her eyes, letting strength and courage fill her veins with the heat of the fire.


	27. The battle

By the time they reached the familiar spa Mal felt almost as if she herself was made of fire, though she pushed it down, letting out a slow deep breath as Ben parked the car and twisted in his seat to look at her, "Mal... are you sure I can't go in with you."

"She said to come alone." Mal took a deep breath, "Just be ready to get us home once this is over."

"I will." Ben leaned over quickly, pressing his hand to Mal's cheek and pressing his lips to hers before pulling back with a puzzled look on his face,

"Your skins hot." his voice was slightly concerned, "Do you feel okay?"

"I do." Mal pulled the Ember from the pocket of the jacket, holding it up so that Ben could see the glow, "It's the power of the Ember."

"Don't let it burn you up Mal." Ben's voice was soft, "I don't want you getting hurt ok-"

Mal cut him off with a kiss, tucking the Ember back into the pocket of the jacket before pulling back, "Wish me luck Ben."

"Good luck." Ben smiled faintly as Mal climbed out of the car and shut the door behind her.

She took a deep breath as he gaze focused on the doors into the spa before she took a deep breath and stormed up the path way, using her magic to force the doors open. Leah knew she was coming there was no point in trying to be sneaky.

The reception area looked as if there'd been a storm inside, and the receptionist was slumped over her desk snoring loudly.

Mal's lips pressed into a thin line.

The question was, where was Leah and where was she keeping Audrey?

"Hello your highness." and Mal turned to look down the corridor to her left and Leah was stood, scepter in hand, her usual pastel pink clothes replaced with a darker pink outfit with black lace.

"Leah." Mal eyed the familiar scepter wearily. "You know I really didn't think you could sink lower than you did at my Coronation."

"I wouldn't say I've sunk lower... I'm soaring higher. You know, I didn't realize how it felt to have such power."

"You despise the woman who birthed me and yet you're becoming like her-"

"Well if the people of Auradon choose the daughter of a monster over me then perhaps darkness is better." Leah was glaring, "So I will use the power of your mother-"

"Not my mother."

"'s scepter and I will kill you and anyone who stands against me." Leah ignored Mal's snappish interruption. "And once I rule Auradon I will wipe out the Isle and all who live on it-"

"That's insane." Mal's mouth dropped open in shock, "Not everyone on the Isle is evil-" she thought of Celia, of Hades, of the rest of Dizzy and Hadie's Anti-hero club. Of Gil who had shown her kindness despite the situation.

"They're villains and their spawn." Leah snapped, "They're less than the dirt beneath my feet and I will show the world what happens to those who choose evil-"

"You're literally planning on murdering me!" Mal yelled the words "You are the one choosing evil you are the villain here!"

"I am doing what must be done." Leah snarled the words, "Your blood is poison-"

"If I was doomed to be evil because of who my parents are then surely Aurora would be like you! And Audrey! But they're not. Sure some people are innately evil I won't argue with that but you cannot assume innocent children are evil just because their parents were! Who our parents are doesn't dictate who we are Leah please!"

"You have them all fooled but you don't have me fooled." Leah snarled, "You've bewitched Auradon but I see through you! I always have!"

"I was a child." Mal's voice was suddenly soft, "I was five, I'd never hurt anyone. I came to Auradon so young that I can't remember much from before I came. No child that age is evil Leah. I was a little girl who liked playing in the fountain and running through the gardens-and even playing with dolls whenever Audrey asked me to. I wasn't some evil monster. I was a little girl celebrating her birthday when you grabbed me by the hair and dragged me out to that pool to throw me in. No one forced you to blame me then. I'm not the monster in this story Leah you are."

"You're her daughter! Aurora was foolish to ever let you anywhere near Audrey! You poisoned her against me-"

"I didn't!" Mal shook her head, "You poisoned her against yourself with your insane views and the fact that you attacked me! I was pretty much her only close friend back then and you tried to murder me! That's what you did! You're just like her! She cursed your daughter because you didn't invite her to the Christening, that's bad, no doubt and she deserved to be punished. But the point is she punished your child for something you did! And you punished me for something she did-" she ducked when Leah let out a furious scream and thrust the scepter forward, a blast of green magic bursting out of it and hitting the wall behind where Mal had seconds earlier been standing.

Well she had more control over the scepter than the wand but that really wasn't a good thing this time.

Another blast caught her side as she threw herself to the ground, making her gasp in pain, "You'll pay for destroying my life!" Leah's voice was manic, "All of Auradon will pay!" then there was a glowing green light surrounding Mal and she cried out, feeling her strength waning, it was like Leah was sucking all of the energy out of her leaving her cold, empty. She could barely move, barely see or hear.

Leah's laughter was distant, far off and mocking as Mal curled in on herself shivering. She was going to lose. She was going to die she was alone, lost and alone, how could she ever hope to defeat her mothers scepter she was nothing, less than dirt. She could hear Maleficent's voice, feel a hand on her arm, "Useless child, I should just let you starve!" she closed her eyes, and she was three years old again, Maleficent glaring down at her, "You don't try and help people! You're evil!" a hand hit her cheek and Mal curled in on herself as she hit the ground sobbing, "Go! Go and don't come back until you've done something bad that I can be proud of brat. You won't eat until you do!" and she was scrambling away, crying as she ran, looking around for something, anything any way out.

'Mali' the voice felt like it was in her own mind, 'Mali remember' it drew her out of the memories that she didn't even know she'd had, back to the real world, she could remember now, seeing the limo and running and hiding inside of it. The memory was real but it was just a memory. That was the past, it was the future that mattered now, she had to fight if she wanted one.

Mal shoved her hand into the pocket of the jacket, fingers curling around the ember once more, the warmth flooding through her. And she could hear Hades' voice again, it was Hades' voice coming from the Ember, reaching for her in her mind.

She felt the Ember pulse as the cold was washed away and she felt her energy returning. The Ember gave her strength, made her more than she might have otherwise been, she wasn't some lost helpless little girl anymore. Yes Maleficent was her birth mother, but Hades was her father, and he was stronger, he was a literal god. And she felt the power growing more, and she heard Leah scream with rage as the green glow that had been surrounding her faded and she pushed herself up off the ground, turning to face towards the old woman, gripping the Ember tightly as they stood face to face, the magic flowing in her veins, her eyes still closed.

She wasn't evil like Maleficent-or even Hades though his evilness was debatable, she'd chosen her path the day she'd climbed into the limo. That didn't mean that she was perfectly good, she had a temper and a nasty side when she wanted to. She had both in her, and that wasn't a bad thing, it made her stronger, made her the person she was today. She opened her eyes.

She was the Queen of Auradon and she would protect her people.

"What? How!" Leah's voice was frantic "How did you-"

"You overestimate your power." Mal called out as a wind started up around them, Leah had summoned a storm inside it seemed. She really hoped it wouldn't be too bad outside, Ben really needed to stay in his car right now.

Leah screamed with rage, and a literal bolt of lightning shot out from the scepter, but Mal tightened her grip on the Ember, and a glowing blue shield blocked it, deflecting it back to Leah, who screamed in pain as the power crackled along the scepter, her grip releasing automatically from the pain as she was thrown backwards, and Mal held up a hand, silently summoning the scepter, which flew through the air into Mal's grip-and she could feel the darkness clinging to it, swirling around it.

She wondered if the evil had come from being wielded by Maleficent for so long or if the scepter had been evil from the start.

Hell for all she knew the scepter could have corrupted Maleficent. Either way she could feel it reaching out for her, trying to seep into her, whispering of power and strength and- she let go of it, the scepter clattering to the ground as she took a hasty step back, swallowing hard.

No. No it would be best not to touch the scepter, not with bare hands at least.

She glanced over to Leah, who was unconscious and she let out a slow breath before taking off the warm leather jacket and using it to wrap up the  
scepter before carefully picking it up and putting it on the reception desk before she looked down at the Ember in her hands, and she closed her eyes, reaching out for the magic, undoing the sleeping curses that Leah had used on the poor members of staff.

By the time she opened her eyes again the receptionist was slowly sitting up, yawning and looking confused, "W-what-"

"You're okay now." Mal's voice was soft, "Queen Leah escaped and stole Maleficent's scepter. I plan on calling my personal guards to come and get Leah and the scepter-don't touch it at all. I doubt she'll be waking up for a while." She needed to go through the guards, find out who Leah had bribed into helping her with her plan, but her personal guards could certainly be trusted and they'd like having something to do-since her magic meant that she didn't need their protection as much.

"Y-your highness?"

"It's over now. Auradon is safe-"

"Mal." the voice came from the corridor where Leah had emerged from and Mal's head snapped to the side as her eyes settled on a familiar figure, yawning and stumbling, and then she was rushing forward, arms wrapping around her best friend, Audrey hugging her back tightly.

"I was so scared for you." Audrey's voice shook, "Grammy-"

"I know." Mal pressed her face into Audrey's shoulder, "I know Audrey I know... I stopped her. It's okay now." she could see the receptionist, still looking somewhat confused as she called for the city guards.

"I-I think I want to get out of here."

"Then c'mon." Mal wrapped an arm around her best friend's shoulder, "Ben's waiting for us outside." And so together the two best friends made their way out of the building, more than ready to go home.


	28. A deal kept

After the battle at the spa things finally did settle, and Mal at last actually felt herself being able to relax, the voice whispering in her mind, warning her of the danger faded and she could at last breath again.

And of course when the news broke that the scepter had been stolen and what Leah had done, there was no panic, because it had already been dealt with. Leah was taken immediately to the cells, and the next morning Mal and Ben, along with several guards of course, personally took the old woman to the Isle of the Lost, and tossed her out of the car before turning back and heading home, this time safe and secure in the knowledge that the old woman was no longer a threat to them.

Of course her announcement explaining the presence of two more Isle Kids had been received with surprise, but, well, she'd publicly declared that they were her wards while in Auradon, so she felt confident that they'd both be safe and treated well.

Everything had been arranged and sorted by Wednesday, which gave Mal four days before Cotillion, which she planned on having Hadie and Dizzy attend. Of course Evie was a lifesaver there, designing and stitching up new outfits with a determination that made Mal smile, though Dizzy helped with her own.

Of course Hadie wasn't quite so enthusiastic, Mal had to literally drag him to his fittings by the back of his jacket.

All on all things were going well, better than Mal had expected them to, and when Cotillion came Mal's heart nearly burst with pride as she watched Hadie and Dizzy enjoy themselves, dancing the night away, especially Dizzy, who's bubbly personality made her an instant hit with most of the girls.  
Mal was watching it all with a soft smile, leaning into Ben's side as she took a break from the dancing. It was almost perfect, almost. But there was something missing and she couldn't quite figure out what it was.

She was drawn out of her thoughts by Ben's voice, "Mal I'm gonna go get some drink and talk to Carlos and Jay-" he nodded towards the two boys, and Jane who was grinning brightly next to Carlos-that was something that she was happy about too. Carlos had gotten up the nerve to ask her to the Cotillion-Jane had nearly burst Mal's eardrums when she'd told her.

"Of course." Mal smiled, pushing herself up onto her tip toes to kiss Ben's cheek, "Go and mingle. I'll stay here and rest my feet."

She watched Ben walk away, smiling faintly as he went before shaking her head and tilting it up to the sky, letting out a soft sigh.

"You seem distracted." Mal turned her head, shooting Audrey a soft smile.

"Do I?"

"Yeah, why? Are you trying to hide it because if you are, you're failing."

"That bad huh."

"Yeah. What's up, you still thinking about... her?"

"No," Mal shook her head, "I just..." she glanced sidelong at Audrey, "Thinking about the future... about Dizzy and Hadie and the other kids on the Isle-"

"You're gonna get more off soon." Audrey grabbed Mal's hand and squeezed, "I know you've already been putting a list together."

"I have." Mal gave a small shrug, "And I've been thinking a lot I guess.. about the villains too." she bit her lip, "If Hades hadn't given me his Ember-"

"Mal." Audrey's voice was slightly firmer than normal, "I know you haven't told the rest of our friends but I know... seeing you with Hadie makes it very obvious, you're like the ultimate big sister."

"He... he does care... he can't be completely evil if he cares that much." Mal gave Audrey a weak smile, "Right?"

"That's something only you can decide." Audrey gently bumped their shoulders together.

"I made a deal with him... told him I'd return his Ember personally." she hadn't yet. It was in her bag even now.

"Then do it." Audrey's voice was soft as she squeezed Mal's hand, "Just go and do it Mal. Be careful of course but go and do it."

"You think-"

"Of course I think." Audrey hugged her gently, "Now go Mal before I start kicking you to make you leave."

"Would you tell-"

"I'll tell everyone you were tired so you went to bed early." Audrey promised. "Now go and see him."

With that Mal spun around and took off, heading back to the school to grab Hades' jacket first, pulling it on over her Cotillion dress-well, the shorter version-honestly Evie had an obsession with ripaway skirts and Mal was definitely into it. She'd gotten the other girl to alter the purple sleeveless gown slightly, and now it had deep blue lace all over it instead of black.

Then she took her crown off, setting it down carefully on her desk before heading out, locking the door behind her, taking one of the limo's and driving, heading straight to the Isle, passing through the barrier and heading straight to Dragon Hall.

She'd only been there once but she remembered the way well enough, and before long she was in the tunnels leading underground, using a torch to light the way this time, and finally she reached the familiar cavern, and she could hear music, and a glance into the room told her it came from a TV, and Hades was sprawled out of his couch watching the footage of the Cotillion.

She felt her heart warm at that, though she could hear him grumbling under his breath, and she smiled at the muttered words.

"Y'know it'd be pretty hard for you to catch a glimpse of me in live footage when I'm standing right behind you." and Hades twisted, nearly falling off the crouch as he pushed himself up to look in her direction, his eyes going wide.

"Mali. What are you doing here you have that fancy-"

"Eh, not my first Cotillion and it won't be my last." Mal climbed out of the tunnel into the cavern, smiling softly, "I believe we made a deal didn't we?"  
Hades looked shocked, "Wasn't sure you'd-"

"Wasn't sure I'd show." Mal moved towards him as he got to his feet, pulling the Ember out of the jackets pocket, "I'm here, and here's the Ember. And I can give you your jacket back if you want."

"You.. you brought it back."

"I did." Mal nodded, grabbing his hand and pressing the Ember into it gently. "It seemed right to come tonight." she glanced at the TV, smiling slightly at the music, "You were hoping to see me and Hadie."

"Yeah." Hades didn't sound ashamed, "Not gonna get much chance to see you both any other ways am I? And hey you didn't tell me that Ben brat was your boyfriend-"

"You saw me dancing with him huh." Mal laughed softly. "We've been together for over six months now, it's not exactly news for most people."

"Right." Hades nodded, curling his fingers around the Ember, "You... thank you. Hadie looks pretty happy."

"He's safe in Auradon." Mal promised firmly, "Well fed and clothed and happy. He fits right in."

"Good." Hades gave a sad smile, "I guess you'll be leaving again then, gotta get back to that dance-"

"By the time I do it'll be over." Mal shook her head, "Y'know I've been to so many of them, I remember when I was little, I used to stand on my dads toes and he'd dance with me."

"I'm glad you had that." Hades' expression was sad, and Mal smiled softly as she moved towards him and plucked the Ember from his hand, popping it on the table.

"I'm too old to dance on your feet. But I'm not too old to dance with you."

Hades' eyes widened at Mal's words and he let out a startled noise as she grabbed his hands and spun them both. It wasn't a proper dance, it was the type of dance a little kid would do with their parents, spinning each other around, but Hades let out a loud genuine laugh, startled and true, and they spun and danced, Mal grinning-and when Hades brought out a tambourine and his guitar she laughed brightly as they played music and danced long into the night, until the night turned into day.

And when that happened they slowly settled down, and Hades moved to the other side of the room, pulling something out from a drawer before returning and grabbing his Ember, while Mal watched, a curious look on her face.

"What's that?"

"For you." Hades fiddled with it for a few moments before he held it out, it was a necklace, the chain a shining silver color, and the pendant itself was the Ember, a piece of silvery metal wrapped around it to keep it secure in place. "Keep it Mali. You'll be able to use it in Auradon, it's useless here."

"But..."

"You came back. That was all I wanted."

"Papa.." Mal swallowed hard before she reached out slowly and took the necklace, fastening it around her neck carefully, her fingers brushing over the Ember. "Thank you."

"Don't. I was a crappy father, you deserved better. Take care of the Ember for me."

"I'll be back." Mal swallowed hard, "I'll visit, I'll bring Hadie some time."

"I'll be waiting."


End file.
